Amores Perros (Love's a Bitch) (2000) |
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Amores Perros (Love's a Bitch) (2000) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Drama |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Deleted Scenes-12 Featurette-Making Of-Making The Film Featurette-Behind The Scenes Music Video-Me Van A Matar-Julieta Venegas Music Video-Avientame-Café Tacuba Music Video-De Perros Amores-Control Machete Theatrical Trailer Biographies-Cast & Crew Notes-Soundtrack Awards Notes-William Friedkin Trailer-Mullet; Shadow Of The Vampire; The Bank |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2000 | ||
| Running Time | 147:30 (Case: 152) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (84:24) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu |
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Studio
Distributor |
altavista films Madman Entertainment |
Starring |
Gael Garcia Bernal Goya Toledo Emilio Echevarria |
| Case | Click | ||
| RPI | ? | Music | Gustavo Santolalla |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | Yes | ||
| Subtitles | English | Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Amores Perros is a critically acclaimed Mexican film that weaves together three different stories about relationships, love and loss.
Three different stories are loosely linked by the actions of their characters, often with devastating results. The first story revolves around Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) who is in love with his brother's wife and is trying to convince her to leave him. In an effort to raise some much-needed funds, Octavio enters the world of dog fighting with the family pet. The second story is centred around Valeria (Goya Toledo), a popular Mexican model who is having an affair with a married man. When he finally separates from his wife, Valeria is ecstatic but her joy is short-lived when she is involved in a terrible accident. The final story deals with a former guerrilla rebel who separated from his family when he began to fight.
This film was nominated for both a Golden Globe award and an Academy award in the category of Best Foreign Film. The movie has won a number of awards at various film festivals including Cannes where it received the audience awards for Best Film - Critics Week and the Young Critics Award. In addition to these official awards, the film has also received wide critical acclaim from both the media and audiences alike.
Amores Perros is a highly enjoyable film from first time director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu that is deserving of the high praise it has received. While the technique of intertwining different stories has been seen numerous times before, the film does not rely on this to keep the viewer's attention and only loosely links each of the separate stories through a single major event.
The video transfer for this film has had a number of intentional processing effects applied. The result is an image that often appears overexposed or washed out. This is similar to the processing applied to Steven Soderbergh's Traffic and results in a similar type of image.
The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer remains consistently sharp throughout and always displays high levels of detail. No low level noise was detected at any time during the transfer. During the numerous dark scenes, excellent levels of shadow detail may be seen.
The colours displayed during the transfer often appear muted or slightly washed out as a result of the processing performed. The resulting image displays a reduced colour palette and has a heavy emphasis upon blues and greens.
No MPEG artefacts were detected at any time during the transfer.
Two small aliasing artefacts may be seen at 55:53 and 73:43 but these are very small and are never distracting to the viewer.
A small number of film artefacts may be seen throughout the film. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 19:19, 22:48, 32:52, 70:51 and 84:26. These artefacts are all quite minor and are not distracting to the viewer. Obvious film grain is visible throughout the transfer but this is not distracting.
A single set of yellow English subtitles are provided on this disc. These subtitles are always clear and easy to read.
The layer change occurs during a fade-to-black at 84:24 and is not distracting to the viewer.
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| Shadow Detail | |
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| Film-To-Video Artefacts |  |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand. No dropouts or problems with audio sync were detected at any time during the transfer.
The effective score by Gustavo Santolalla suits the on-screen action and makes its presence felt throughout.
The surround channels are used effectively during the opening sequence and the dog fight scenes as well as for the musical score. While this is not an aggressive mix, it does create an effective soundstage.
The subwoofer channel is used throughout to support both the score and effects.
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| Audio Sync | |
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| Surround Channel Use | |
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| Overall | |
The animated menu is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.
This is a collection of twelve scenes that were removed from the film for various reasons. These are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and are not 16x9 enhanced. The soundtrack provided for these scenes is a commentary by the director explaining why each scene was cut and where it was placed in the film. The soundtrack is a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 track and is complemented by a set of removable English subtitles.
This featurette contains a collection of behind-the-scenes footage as well as interviews with various cast and crew members. It is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack and burned-in English subtitles.
This featurette also has a collection of behind-the-scenes footage as well as interviews with various cast and crew members. It is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack and a removable English subtitle stream.
This music video is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.
This music video is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
This music video is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
This trailer is presented with a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
Short one or two page biographies are provided for Emilio Echevarria, Gael Garcia Bernal, Vanessa Bauche, Goya Toledo, Jorge Salinas, Rodrigo Murray Prisant, Alejendro Gonzalez Innaritu and Guillermo Arriaga.
This is a single page listing the artists found in the movie's soundtrack.
This is a six page listing of the various awards that this film has received internationally.
This is a two page quote from William Friedkin discussing why he likes this film and the DVD medium.
This trailer is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of approximately 1.40:1.
This trailer is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.
This trailer is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
The UK Region 2 version of this disc misses out on;
The exclusion of the commentary track and additional featurette from the local release makes the R1 release the version of choice. The Campaign Development extra on the R2 release examines the development of the marketing campaign for the movie. While this extra sound interesting I personally would prefer the commentary and dog fighting featurette.
Amores Perros is a highly enjoyable Mexican film that clearly deserves the wide critical acclaim it has received.
The excellent video transfer shows very few artefacts but the intentional processing of the image may distract some viewers.
An effective surround soundtrack is presented on this disc and suits the action displayed.
An interesting collection of extras is provided on this disc but unfortunately the director's commentary and additional featurette from the R1 release are not included.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Toshiba 1200, using S-Video output |
| Display | Sony KP-E41SN11. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Front left/right: ME75b; Center: DA50ES; rear left/right: DA50ES; subwoofer: NAD 2600 (Bridged) |
| Speakers | Front left/right: VAF DC-X; Center: VAF DC-6; rear left/right: VAF DC-7; subwoofer: Custom NHT-1259 |