Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Wild Tales Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 30, 2015

Selected to represent Argentina in the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 87th Academy Awards, Damián Szifrón's "Wild Tales" a.k.a. "Relatos Salvajes" (2014) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; video interview with the Argentine director; and making of featurette with cast and crew interviews. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The driver

Revenge is the key element that unites the six short stories that make up Wild Tales, an Argentine film directed by local helmer Damián Szifrón and produced by Pedro and Agustin Almodovar.

Pasternak: A beautiful model boards a plane and soon after begins chatting with a middle-aged music critic. She is shocked to discover that he knew her ex-lover, Pasternak, an ambitious but apparently talentless musician. When the plane takes off, other passengers join the conversation and become seriously concerned when they realize that they also knew Pasternak.

The Rats: A gangster enters an empty roadside diner and orders fried eggs and chips. The jaded waitress recognizes the man and tells the cook that years ago he ruined her life. The cynical cook then suggests that they add up a nice dose of rat poison to his eggs -- free of charge. Shortly after the waitress serves the food, the gangster greets his son.

Road to Hell: On a remote highway, a young businessman driving a luxury automobile quickly insults a redneck in an ancient clunker. They meet again after the businessman stops to replace a flat tire.

Bombita: A demolition specialist stops at a pastry shop to buy a birthday cake for his daughter. When his car is towed, he goes to a busy location in the heart of the city and attempts to explain that he was incorrectly sanctioned, but is forced to pay an expensive ticket. In the coming days, the man loses his cool and his life spins out of control.

The Deal: A young boy confesses to his wealthy parents that he has hit a person with his brand new car. His father and his lawyer come up with a brilliant plan to keep him out of prison, but when the prosecutor appears they are forced to alter it -- multiple times.

Till Death Do Us Part: During a lavish wedding ceremony, the bride discovers that the groom has cheated on her with one of the guests. Initially she heads to the roof to commit suicide, but later on changes her mind and decides to strike back.

Szifrón has almost certainly studied Fabián Bielinsky’s Nine Queens as his bag of tricks is just as impressive. Obviously, in Wild Tales the resolutions come a lot faster, but this young Argentine director definitely understands how to keep one in a guessing mode for as long as possible (and for as long as it makes sense).

The cast features some of Argentina’s biggest actors: the terrific Ricardo Darín (who also appeared in Bielinsky’s top thriller El Aura), Leonardo Sbaraglia (Burnt Money), Darío Grandinetti (Talk to Her), and Oscar Martínez (Count to Ten), amongst others. Needless to say, the performances are first-class.

Szifrón and cinematographer Javier Julia (Blessed by Fire) shot the film with the Alexa camera, but later on did additional refinements to give it a unique appearance.

The excellent soundtrack was created by multiple Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla (Babel, Amores Perros).

Wild Tales Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Damián Szifrón's Wild Tales arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.

Shot with the Alexa camera, the film has the appropriate smooth, clean, and very sharp appearance. During close-ups with plenty of natural light detail and clarity are outstanding and one could see even exceptionally small details, like tiny facial pores (see screencapture #1). The wider shot also look incredibly crisp and well detailed (see screencapture #3). Each of the six short stories favors a different range of color tonalities, but they are actually all well balanced. Some minor contrast fluctuations are present, but they are part of the original cinematography. Image stability is outstanding. Finally, there are no encoding anomalies to report in this review. To sum all up, this is an outstanding technical presentation of Wild Tales that is guaranteed to please its fans as well as folks that are going to experience the film for the first time at home. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free Blu-ray player in order to access its content).

Wild Tales Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Spanish LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

There is a substantial difference between the 5.1 track and the 2.0 track. There are numerous scenes where surround movement is very effective on the 5.1 track and depth is actually expanded. Clarity and sharpness are outstanding. The dialog is equally clean and easy to follow on the two tracks. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in our review.

Wild Tales Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Damián Szifrón - in this video interview, director Damián Szifrón explains how Wild Tales was conceived, and discusses Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla's contribution, the shooting of the film, some of the unique themes, etc. In Spanish, with imposed English subtitles. (6 min).

• Making of - standard featurette with raw footage from the shooting of Wild Tales and clips from an interview with director Damián Szifrón, producer Hugo Sigman, producer Agustin Almodovar, producer Pedro Almodovar, producer Esther Garcia, and actors Oscar Martinez and Ricardo Darin, amongst others. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles. (25 min).

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for Wild Tales. In Spanish, with imposed English subtitles (2 min).

Wild Tales Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Witty and outrageously funny, Argentine director Damián Szifrón's Wild Tales is one of the year's very best films. It is produced by Pedro and Agustin Almodovar and scored by multiple Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla. British distributors Artificial Eye's technical presentation of Wild Tales is fantastic. (In the United States, Sony Pictures Classics will release the film on Blu-ray on June 16th). VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.