Wild Tales: Pasternak
Overview
Wild Tales (Damian Szifron, 2014) is an anthology of 6 short films which all have similarities. They all contain some sort of revenge plot and an unpredictable ending. Pasternak is no different, it contains a person called Gabriel Pasternak who has gathered all the people that have ever done him wrong on a plane and then crashes the plane into his parent’s house.
Narrative Structure
The short film is 8 minutes long and follows a linear structure where Gabriel Pasternak gets all the people he hates onto a plane and crashes the plane. There are no flashbacks but through what the people say on the plane an accurate imagination of what happened can be created. This could be considered as narrative flow where we learn information as the characters in the film learn the information. This immerses us into the film and creates tension.
The twist in the short film is when everyone on the plan realises that they know Gabriel Pasternak and that they have all done something wrong to him. A second twist could be when the flight attendant tells the passengers that the pilot is Gabriel Pasternak meaning that he is most likely going to crash the plane with them all inside. The pace of the short film is slow which builds up tension until the first twist happens which then sets a high pace as not too far after the plane crashes and the short film ends.
Cinematic Influence
The short film shows a man who’s been treated wrong his whole life crash a plane with everyone that did him wrong in it. Therefore it could be said that the film shows the damaging effect of bullying, ignoring and overall treating people wrong. A plane crashing on purpose is far fetched but very possible as it has happened before in history (most notably the September 11th attacks). This could easily scare an audience which makes it effect to use to show a message.
Wild Tales (Including the first short film Pasternak) is a thriller/comedy and the whole film of short films was inspired by either things that have happened to Damian Szifron (The director) or things that has happened to people he knows. Although most of the short films are taken beyond what actually happened.
Creating Meaning And Effect
Not much is shown in terms of Aesthetics as most of the shots are inside the plane as the people gradually come to learn what’s about to happen to them. Although the whole short film is about building tension. The feel and look of the film creates a realistic atmosphere making it more terrifying when the plot twists are revealed.
In Wild Tales, many of the short films feature some sort of patriarchal society. In Pasternak we see somebody who is shown as an outsider. Through dialogue we come to understand that he has been treated wrong his whole life by many people and as an act of revenge he plans (and succeeds) to kill them all.