A car crash in Mexico City ties together 3 separate stories. A young man is trying to escape with his brother's wife. A supermodel has her life destroyed by an accident. A hitman is reuniting with the family he abandoned. Iñárritu's debut is a portrait of how violence connects strangers who would never otherwise meet.
Amores Perros is a 2000 drama, thriller and crime film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (1 editing, 2 narrative and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Moonlight uses several of the same techniques.
Returning to a woven cord, thread or rope as a symbol of connection and fate. The repeated image links separate storylines and shows how the characters' lives are woven together.
How this film uses it
The car crash is the point where the film's 3 stories are braided together. Each story either leads toward it or comes out of it. Through the accident, 3 unconnected lives briefly touch. After that, they separate back into their private tragedies.
Where to see it
The crash itself. It's the moment where all 3 storylines meet in a single event. The separate threads of the story get pulled violently together.
Telling the story out of order by jumping between time periods. The order you see events in changes how you understand them.
How this film uses it
Iñárritu tells the 3 stories one after another instead of in a single timeline. The crash shows up at a different point in each story's timeline. What you get is a portrait of Mexico City where the same moment means something completely different depending on whose life it interrupts.
Where to see it
The crash repeated from each character's position in time. The same event is shown 3 times. Each time, you learn something new about what led to it and what comes after.
Shooting with a handheld camera so the frame shakes and moves with the action. This documentary-style look, called cinema vérité, puts you uncomfortably close to the character.
How this film uses it
Rodrigo Prieto shoots Mexico City's streets with a shaky, documentary-style handheld camera. It puts you in the traffic, the tenements and the dog fights. You can't separate the real texture of the city from the fictional characters moving through it.
Where to see it
The dog fight sequences. The handheld camera is in the pit with the animals. The violence is raw and nothing softens it, and from that close, it's pretty much impossible to make the cruelty look good.
Starting the story in the middle of the action, often during a crisis, with no setup. You pick up the background later through flashbacks or small hints.
How this film uses it
The film opens in medias res, which means in the middle of the action. The chase that ends in the crash is already in motion and already in crisis. Then, the film pulls back to show each story from its beginning. You have already seen where everyone ends up before you understand how they got there.
Where to see it
The opening car chase. You get plunged into the chase and the crash before the film explains who these people are or how they got to this moment.
Questions
Amores Perros: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Amores Perros use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Amores Perros (2000): Braided Thread Motif, Non-Linear Narrative, Handheld Cinema Vérité and In Medias Res.
Who directed Amores Perros?
Alejandro González Iñárritu directed Amores Perros, released in 2000. CineCode also covers 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006), Biutiful (2010), Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), Digger (2026).
What films are similar to Amores Perros?
Films that share techniques with Amores Perros include Moonlight (2016), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Following (1998).
