Wild Tales

In the beginning, The Bureau consisted mostly of film reviews, but in the last few years it's become more of a venue for photos, particularly photos of rapidly changing San Francisco. However, the bureau chief is happy to return to films when something notable comes along. "Wild Tales" is an Argentinian black comedy made by Damián Szifron. It's his first feature although he's done work in television. It consists of six stories on the themes of injustice and revenge. It's brilliant, violent and hilarious. It reminded me of how I felt when I first saw Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction".

It was nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar but lost out to Pawel Pawlikowski's "Ida" which is also an excellent film, but beautiful and sad while "Wild Tales" is completely exhilarating. I surprised myself by watching three of the five Foreign Film nominees this year. The third was Abderrahmane Sissako's "Timbuktu" which is also excellent and also beautiful and sad.

The first of the six tales in "Wild Tales" is a tiny masterpiece before the title that sets the mood for the whole movie. If "Wild Tales" is no longer in the theaters, I urge you to rent it as soon as it's available.