Wild Tales (Spanish: Relatos Salvajes) is a 2014 Spanish-language satirical[7][8][9] absurdist[10][11] black comedy anthology film, written and directed by the Argentine filmmaker Damián Szifron.

The film has an ensemble cast consisting of Ricardo Darín, Oscar Martínez, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Érica Rivas, Rita Cortese, Julieta Zylberberg, and Darío Grandinetti.

At a highway restaurant on a slow night, a waitress (Julieta Zylberberg) recognizes a loan shark (César Bordón) who had, years before, ruined her family, forced them to move and caused her father's untimely death via suicide.

Simón Fischer (Ricardo Darín), a demolition expert, picks up a cake for his daughter's birthday party and discovers his car has been towed.

The story makes the news and Simón's employer fires him, and his wife (Nancy Dupláa) seeks a divorce and sole custody of their daughter.

Simón's wife and daughter visit him in prison for his birthday, presenting him with a cake in the form of the cartoon tow truck Mater, from Cars.

At a Jewish wedding[13] reception, the bride Romina (Érica Rivas) discovers her groom Ariel (Diego Gentile) has been having an affair with one of the guests.

[24][25] Wild Tales is a co-production of the Argentine firms Kramer & Sigman Films, Telefe Productions and Corner Contenidos; and the Spanish company El Deseo, which is owned by Agustín and Pedro Almodóvar.

[3][29] With a budget of US$3.3–4.5 million[a]—70% from Argentina and 30% from Spain—Wild Tales had an eight-week filming schedule in April and May 2013[3] at locations in Buenos Aires, Salta and Jujuy provinces.

[35] Wild Tales is based on Szifron's understanding of Western capitalist society as a cage, and depicts the moment at which some people become so frustrated by their surroundings they cannot behave in the socially expected manner.

The director believed its theme of man versus a system which may have the cards stacked against them would have universal appeal because of global wealth inequality.

[37] Psychologist Diana Paulozky, in an interview for La Voz del Interior, said Wild Tales' includes both visible and constrained violence, cynicism, moral hypocrisy, and denigration that may induce public turmoil.

[24] In such a "social Darwinian world",[46] the acts of vengeance are usually motivated by class or economic conflicts,[47] beneath which is a desire to break free from what Szifron referred to as the "transparent cage" of Western capitalist and consumeristic society.

[50][51] James Rickman of Paper called Wild Tales "a cri de coeur against the personal and political barriers that block human curiosity".

[53] Eric Kohn of IndieWire said the last segment alters the film's overall meaning; "The bizarrely touching conclusion is a cynical take on the ups and downs of a relationship, hinting at the idea that even a mad world divided against itself thrives on the need for companionship".

[43] Ty Burr from Boston Globe concluded, "there is no lasting meaning, other than that people are funny, nasty animals when pushed to their limits".

[22] According to Rooney, Almodóvar's influence is "there in the off-kilter humor, in the stylish visuals and bold use of music, and in the affection for ordinary people pushed to extraordinary extremes".

[42] Bob Mondello of NPR said the last segment "is weird, sexy and violent enough to make you think of the wild tales of director Pedro Almodóvar".

[38] Juliana Rodríguez of La Voz del Interior described its marketing as a "huge operation" which included film posters, in the streets and in public buses, and billboard pieces (gigantografías) featuring its characters.

[38][68] Prior to the domestic release in late July and early August 2014, Szifron and the cast appeared on the Argentine television talk shows of Susana Giménez and Mirtha Legrand.

[69][70] A comment by Szifron on Mirtha Legrand's show attracted some controversy on Twitter and was officially denounced;[70] Rodríguez said it generated involuntary publicity.

[38] The film's release was originally planned for 14 August but a strike by the trade union of theatre workers caused Warner Bros. to postpone it.

The critical consensus says it is "Wickedly hilarious and delightfully deranged, Wild Tales is a subversive satire that doubles as a uniformly entertaining anthology film".

[47] Robert Horton from Seattle Weekly criticised it for relying on twists, "a technique that doesn't quite disguise how in-your-face the lessons are", and called the film "a scattering of gotchas".

[44] According to Richard Brody of The New Yorker, Wild Tales "offers little in the way of context or characterization" and the "characters behave so rudely and crudely, there's no reason to care about what happens to them".

[33] Diestro-Dópido said; "The humour of Wild Tales is pitch-black, its irony razor-sharp, its sarcasm painfully perverse and its unpredictability ludicrous, violent but also bitingly funny".

[24] Manohla Dargis from The New York Times compared the film's use of humour and coincidence to O. Henry's work,[46] as did Nashawaty because of its "ironic twist endings".

[33] The reason it is a "good-looking film ... crafted in high style" is, in Rooney's opinion, "lots of eye-catching touches from production designer Clara Notari and unconventional camera angles from cinematographer Javier Juliá".

[94] At the Cannes Film Festival, Wild Tales was selected to compete for the main prize, the Palme d'Or,[95] and had a ten-minute standing ovation.

[56] After its praised festival tour,[27] the American talent agency William Morris Endeavor contacted Szifron[4] and Wild Tales was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.