It takes a number of ingredients to create Argentine dark comedy anthology, Wild Tales – from the stylistic flourish and dark humour of Pedro Almodóvar (who co-produces with his brother, Augstín), to an anthology structure that plays like a grounded version of The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt. The film’s opening even disarms the audience with a script that feels like something out of a Kevin Smith film: a group of previously unconnected strangers discovering through conversation that they have all shared encounters with the same local loser. As the scene builds, however, it slowly becomes clear that something more sinister is afoot; this isn’t just cosmic (and comic) coincidence, but a form of karmic justice. It doesn’t take long before Wild Tales has established both a tone and theme for what is to follow.

A loan shark that crosses paths with a victim of his cruelty, a businessman that exercises his road rage on the wrong motorist, a wealthy couple desperate to cover-up a crime committed by their son and the wedding reception from hell are amongst the stories told by writer-director Damián Szifón, with anger, revenge and violence playing significant roles in each. All six of the segments featured contains a sense of ever-escalating purgatory for the protagonists involved, not least the tale of a man whose battle against the injustice of a parking ticket threatens to ruin his life. This story deserves particular credit for containing the wonderful exchange: ‘Could you call your superior, please?’, ‘There are none’, ‘Oh, really? Who are you, the fucking President?’

Yet despite some amusing moments and an excellent eye for the visual (just one external shot of a car can reduce the never-ending fight taking place inside to the farce it is), the problem with Szifón’s film is that it just isn’t quite funny enough. Sure, each story contains at least some laughs, but they also quickly begin to feel repetitive – both within themselves and of each other. Add the fact that not one of them has a satisfying ending and you’re left with something slightly frustrating: a promising set-up, good delivery, but a limp punch line.

Showing as part of Glasgow Film Festival 2015