It was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.
A rare foreign film hit in an era before YouTube, social media and the onslaught of movie blogs, the movie established several careers. In the 15 years since it was first released, "Amores Perros" remains popular for its dark heart and bloody vision. In the final story, El Chivo (Emilio Echeverria), a former professor turned guerrilla turned homeless street wanderer, is hired to carry out a contract killing that might force his own life to take a different turn. When she's disfigured in a car crash their relationship takes a a nose dive with her pet dog as a bystander. In the second story, a middle class magazine editor (Alvaro Guerrero) has an affair with a high class model named Valeria (Goya Toledo). He tries to make enough money to run away with her by secretly using Ramiro's dog in underground dog fights. Shot in a grainy, aggressive style, "Amores Perros" opens with the melodramatic tale of Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal), a jobless guy in a working class neighborhood smitten with Susana (Vanessa Bauche), the wife of his fierce, violent brother Ramiro (Marco Perez). Inarritu's film was a feverish collection of three stories that were a journey into the bowels of modern Mexico City. These directors would go on to make their names with titles such as "Gravity," "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Other Conquest."
It was one of a series of films that kicked off what Roger Ebert termed as the New Mexican Cinema, a flowering of talent from Mexican filmmakers that included names such as Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo Del Toro and even SMC's own Film Program head, Professor Salvador Carrasco. His trophies for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture for "Birdman" are the culmination of a career that kicked off in 2000 with the premiere of "Amores Perros." It still stands as one of the most popular debuts of the decade. For many cinephiles, last week's Oscars ceremony was a long-awaited series of wins for Mexican film director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.