Argentina’s choice for 96e Oscar ceremony which will be held on March 10, the film The delinquants by Rodrigo Moreno is reminiscent of many works but, ultimately, resembles no other.
Morán (Daniel Elías) is an unnamed bank employee. His work is mundane, not to say boring, his days are punctuated by cigarette breaks between two problems to be resolved with all the seriousness befitting his role – on this day, it is a dark story of two clients which have the same signature. Then, Morán calculates a precise sum, that of $469,800 that he will steal from the institution’s coffer, in full view of the surveillance cameras.
But why $469,800? This is double the salary he would earn working until retirement. Another simple calculation is that if he goes to the police – without returning the money – his prison sentence of three and a half years will be highly profitable. All he needs is an accomplice to hide the sports bag containing the tickets, and he is his colleague Román (Esteban Bigliardi).
As in all good bank robbery stories, the criminals must face all kinds of unforeseen circumstances and The delinquants respect this convention to the letter. But that’s all. Because the unexpected is nothing usual and the filmmaker and screenwriter Rodrigo Moreno has fun shaking up the genre and making the viewer go crazy, all wrapped in a deliberately absurd deadpan humor and, above all, without any suspense or adrenaline rush. Only the tangos of Astor Piazzolla punctuate this funny film to which we quickly become attached.
With its 180 minutes – the equivalent of three episodes of The House of Paperthis excellent series with which we make the link, first because of the Spanish, then because of the meticulousness of the production -, The delinquants done in detail, sometimes even to the point of indigestion. But patients will be rewarded… as in life ultimately.
The film The delinquants arrives in theaters on November 3.