Been there, done that...

Rating: 4/10 (28 March 2008)

Although Crash contains some amazing performances by folks such as Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon, the concept and aspects of the plot have been almost entirely lifted out of two other films: Robert Altman's spectacular 1993 film SHORT CUTS and Alejandro González Iñárritu's 2000 masterpiece, AMORRES PERROS (Love's a Bitch). Both of these films, which precede CRASH, feature characters whose lives intertwine around one singular horrific event. In SHORT CUTS, it's a California earthquake; in AMORRES PERROS, it's a car accident. Both Altman's film (based on Raymond Carver shorts stories) and Inarritu's film are original and innovative in the structure and way in which they "tell" the story: nonlinear, unorthodox, and sometimes seemingly random in terms of sequence. Paul Haggis took the best from these two films and made a derivative movie that, although containing some wonderful acting, does not broaden the horizon of film-making or storytelling.