Love´s a Bitch

Colour, 35mm
Mexico, 2000, 153 min
Section: Horizons - Awarded Films

Synopsis

Octavio loves his brother’s wife and is resolved to run away with her. He desperately needs money and when he discovers that his beloved pet dog Cofi is a proficient killer, he immediately signs him up to take part in bloody dog fights which bring in good profits. Daniel leaves his wife to go and live with the young, long-legged model Valeria. Their new exclusive flat, however, soon becomes an unbearable prison and death trap for Valeria’s small shaggy dog Richi. Former Communist and partisan El Chivo earns a living as a hired assassin after years spent behind bars. His only companions are stray dogs whom he collects on the streets and cures of their wounds. The three stories in this stirring Mexican Oscar-nominated film are interwoven in a style reminiscent of Pulp Fiction but the director does not attempt to copy or imitate any of his predecessors. Using an original approach, the film tells the story of people whose lives intersect at the scene of a fatal traffic accident which opens the film.

About the director

Alejandro Gonzáles Ińárritu (b.1963, Mexico City) worked as a producer, script adviser and presenter for WFM, one of the largest radio stations in Mexico. From 1988 to 1990 he produced the music for six feature films. In 1991 he founded Zeta Films, and also studied stage direction and acting techniques in Maine and Los Angeles. In 1995 he made the medium-length television film Detrás del dinero starring Miguel Bosé. The film Love’s a Bitch (Amores perros) is his feature debut.