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08/10/2023

Review of 'The Delinquents': An Immediate Classic of Latin American Cinema


By Daniel Ruiz (Twitter: @tatoruiz), accredited by CineVista at the Lima Film Festival.

The first album by the Argentine band Pappo's Blues is a kind of McGuffin that is not necessarily tied to the plot of Rodrigo Moreno's new film (Un mundo misterioso, also starring Esteban Bigliardi), but it is closely linked to its theme, especially the song "Adonde está la libertad" (Where Is Freedom), a magnificent piece that reminds us of cinema. Playful and light-hearted, with that sense of profound questioning embedded in its lyrics. And just as described above, "Los delincuentes" (The Delinquents) turns out to be a superb, vital, and magnificently shot film.

Straddling the realms of crime and thriller; between dark comedy and romantic comedy. It is, without a doubt, a new classic of Latin American cinema.

"Los delincuentes" presents the life of Morán (Daniel Elías), a man enslaved by the routine of his job as a treasurer in a bank, a position that, in a way, grants him a certain privilege, if such a thing exists. Let's say not privilege, but the ability to delve into the heart of the space he works in: the bank vault. One afternoon, taking advantage of a minor disruption among the employees and the absence of one of them, Morán enters that vault completely alone and decides to pull off a heist: stealing an enormous amount of money ($650,000), money he had planned to take out in advance and which he considers an advanced pension.

With that ticking time bomb, Morán takes to the streets and to his apartment. He takes a few important things, including that Pappo's Blues album, and meets up with a coworker, Román (Esteban Bigliardi), another guy whose gray, routine-eaten life is evident on his face. Morán reveals his grand plan to Román, which involves turning himself in to the authorities, serving his sentence, and getting out early (in three years) for good behavior. Then, enjoying that money. But the plan has a second objective: for Román to safeguard the money and the secret. The payment? Half of what he stole. The plan is set, and the danger is present (Morán threatens Román if he ever spills the beans). There's no turning back. Insecure, Román hides the money in his closet.

During that first hour, Morán ventures into his newfound freedom (before turning himself in), while Román grapples with a moral dilemma that starts to cost him his peace of mind and raises suspicions at the bank, where a pursuit is organized, making a few lose their jobs.

Up until now, everything seems to suggest this is a crime movie or a thriller, but Moreno's intentions are broader and more ambitious. The film morphs, bifurcates (through its characters), and gives us two more hours of authentic anthology, with a couple of characters whose decisions start to generate hope for what used to be an uncertain and gray future. Rodrigo Moreno plays with different visual and narrative styles, all the while presenting, like someone delivering a joke, the film's grand theme. The result might well resemble a prodigious blend of Jean Renoir, François Truffaut, and Eric Rohmer's cinema. Even the playful tone of Agnès Varda could fit. The play with the names of almost all the characters is another delightfully amusing detail.

It's impossible to detach from the three hours that Moreno presents us, who, to emphasize his playful tone, inserts intertitles that divide the film into two parts and plays with the names of nearly all his characters (you'll see). For me, they could be many more hours, as long as he keeps presenting us with that corrosively Argentine humor, its slightly naive dialogues and situations.

Also, the dilemmas of that pair of characters, who at one point unexpectedly become united by something more than their life goals and the money they stole. "Los delincuentes" is undoubtedly the film of the year (Nolan and Gerwig will forgive), and of the decade. Rarely does cinema surprise us with fables that are as fresh as they are profoundly human. The cinephile spirit is thoroughly satisfied.

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