A film strongly rooted in the telenovela tradition (whether intentional or not)- I enjoyed ticking off all the archetypes. And the Mexico City mileu was very well rendered. But Inarritu is a brutal filmmaker and the way he force feeds the interconnectivity of the three stories and telegraphs the self-reflecting of the characters became tiresome. It also probably helps to be an animal lover to be emotionally engaged with this film, which I’m not.