“Damian Szifron’s Wild Tales [is] moviegoing heaven presented as a farcical national hell. The nation is Argentina, as seen in a quintet of stories. The first is set on airplane, the last at a wedding. Each has a pungent sense of tone and dramatic irony, and respective peaks of hilarious surprise. It’s O. Henry phoning in a terrorist threat.

“A lot of movies from Argentina are about Argentina. Szifron’s is one of the craziest, most exciting, best acted, and even better made. He’s distilled an aspect of the national character down to ‘vengeful assholes.’ It’s one vicious note he manages to turn into five different moods that gather in writerly force and allegorical chutzpah.

“Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the film for U.S. distribution, and that studio ought to give this movie everything it has. In Wild Tales, the studio has a masterpiece comedy that leaves a blockbuster-size crater in the earth.” — Grantland’s Wesley Morris in a 5.19 posting.