Amores Perros (2000), directed by first-time film-maker Alejandro González Iñárittu, with its intersecting storylines and treatment of urban violence and decay, kick-started a renaissance for Mexico's film industry. It was the first Mexican film for generations to achieve major international success, winning many awards, including the Critics' Prize at Cannes. An edgy, complex and sometimes shocking view of life, love and death in the most populous metropolis on the planet, Amores Perros achieves the rare feat of speaking to an international audience while never oversimplifying its indigenous culture.

In the first book-length study of this remarkable film, Paul Julian Smith opens up that culture, revealing the film's relationship to television soap operas, pop music and contemporary debates about what it means to be Mexican. Having researched into the production records and interviewed key personnel, he also shows how the film came to be such a success before going on to analyse how its outstanding acting, music and cinematography combine to create 'a uniquely powerful work in world cinema'.