Funny peculiar

ORDINARY people imploding under the mounting pressures of contemporary capitalism are the protagonists of this hilarious yet wickedly dark and violent satire.

The Oscar-nominated Wild Tales comprises six short stories intertwining themes of catharsis, vengeance and destruction.

Apparently, they were all penned by Argentinian director Damian Szifron while in his bath, which may go some way to explaining why they are so deliciously bizarre.

They include a road-rage attack, a hit-and-run, a wedding from hell, revenge on the man who ruined a family and vengeance on a plane packed with people who all wronged the same person.

The latter bears a passing resemblance to I’m So Excited by the film’s producer Pedro Almodovar, while the road-rage tale comes across as a parody of Duel.

All the tales feature characters pushed to the limits in situations many will identify with, as in the story of the demolition engineer whose life falls apart when his car is towed away unfairly.

His anger and pain as he tries to reason in vain with staff at the car pound can’t fail to invoke sympathy, even though blowing them up is clearly one step too far.

And there’s the bride who discovers at her wedding that her new husband has been cheating on her. His mistress is at the reception and the evil and raucous response as she erupts and turns into the bride from hell is vicariously delicious.

Most surreal is the story in which a wealthy businessman tries to pay off the authorities to avoid his son going to jail after a fatal hit-and-run, yet who breaks off negotiations when he realises that they are taking him for a financial ride.

Backed by superb performances from the Argentinian cast, Wild Tales is outrageous, hysterical — and not to be missed.