Damian Szifron's anthology a 'Wild' ride

<b>Mini-review: 'Wild Tales'</b>

Argentine writer/director Damian Szifron's anthology movie "Wild Tales" offers us one of the grandest, most diabolically conceived opening sequences in movie history.

That by itself would merit its nomination for the foreign language Academy Award. (It lost to Poland's "Ida" last weekend.) After the opening, it's all downhill, but not too far.

Szifron tells six wild tales in this movie. Each thematically connects to the next with seemingly normal people who, for whatever reason, simply "snap." They lose what Laura Brannigan fans know as "self control."

The ingenious opening takes place on a jet where a middle-aged music critic hits on a younger professional model, only to discover an odd connection they share - to everyone else on board.

In "The Rats," a waitress becomes upset when a gangster loan shark responsible for her father's suicide comes into her late-night cafe. She doesn't know what to do. But her bitter co-worker does, and it involves a couple of items you might find in a game of "Clue."

"Road to Hell" works like Steven Spielberg's "Duel" rewritten by the "Tales of the Crypt" mascot, the Cryptkeeper. An uppity rich guy in a custom-built luxury car enrages a blue-collar worker in a rusty jalopy along a desolate desert road. When Mr. Uppity's tire blows and Mr. Bluecollar catches up to him, it's slow, serious war on an intimate and highly personal scale.

The next two short stories, "The Bombita" and "The Bill," fall short of the psychotic giddiness of the movie so far.

In the former, a demolitions expert literally blows after his life falls apart and his car gets towed, leading us to the shopworn conclusion that the public loves people who snap from bureaucratic pressures.

In the latter, a wealthy businessman hires a poor worker to take the rap for his irresponsible son, who mowed down a pregnant woman with Dad's really nice car, killing her and her unborn child. Unlike the ending, the segment is not a hit.

Szifron rebounds nicely with "Til Death Do Us Part," a randy, dandy tale of true love that jumps through a series of bizarre, sexual and violent hoops before a happy couple reconciles to the fact they are made for each other after all. Had this wedding really happened, the video would have gone viral and left "Fifty Shades of Grey" tweets in the dust.

With "Wild Tales," Szifron announces himself as a talented molecular mix of Tarantino, Rodriguez, Spielberg and Almodovar with an eye for crisp editing and gorgeously composed widescreen imagery.

"Wild Tales" opens at the Century Centre and the River East 21 in Chicago, plus the Evanston Century 18. Rated R for language, sexual situations, violence. In Spanish with English subtitles. 122 minutes. Averaged rating: ★ ★ ★

<i> Dann Gire's Reel Life column runs Fridays in Time out!</i>