Cash In Hand
Rodrigo Moreno’s Argentine heist movie The Delinquents comes to UK cinemas this Friday 22nd March
“The Delinquents might kick off with one of the most low-key bank robberies anyone has ever attempted, but it’s hard to overstate how thrilling it feels once the thief finally tells us about what he stole.” IndieWire
A heist film with a twist, Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents is a playful take on a familiar Argentine film genre, made famous by the classic Nine Queens (Nueve reinas, Fabian Bielinsky, 2000) and the more recent comedy The Robbery of the Century (El robo del siglo, Ariel Winograd, 2020). But with its intricate plot and underlying existentialist questions Moreno’s sixth film also references the older Argentine film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s.
The Delinquents premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes Film Festival in 2023 and was chosen as Argentina’s submission to the 2024 Oscars. Amongst international critics it was voted 26th in Sight and Sound’s 2023 poll and 13th on IndieWire’s Top 25 films of 2023 beating the likes of Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon.
The Delinquents arrives in UK cinemas this Friday 22nd March courtesy of Mubi. We take a closer look at the film and some of the elements that make it a particularly Argentine story.
About The Delinquents
Putting his own spin on the saying “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime” Buenos Aires bank employee Morán (Daniel Eliás) conjures up a plan to free himself from his job. He will steal enough money to see him through his retirement ($650,000 the same amount he and his colleague would have earned if they carried on working for another 25 years) and then confess and serve a few short years in prison while his co-worker holds on to the loot. However, his accomplice Román (Esteban Bigliardi) soon feels the pressure of the company’s investigation – including a terrific comic turn by Laura (Trenque Lauquen’s Laura Paredes) as the investigating accountant - and escapes to a remote rural idyll to hide the funds. There, he encounters a mysterious woman who will transform his life, leading him towards a more authentic existence.
Inspiration
According to the film’s press notes, there is a real story in Argentina about a bank employee who stole $3 million dollars before being caught and sent to prison, only to be put under house arrest with his ex wife some years later as this was his last known address. In an interview with the newspaper Página12 Moreno also commented that “When I started researching the film I interviewed a number of bank treasurers who told me that is was quite common for employees to steal small amounts and for the banks to hide it to preserve their reputation.” However, beyond any inspiration from true crimes, Moreno cites his biggest influence as Hugo Fregonese’s 1949 film Hardly a Criminal (Apenas un criminal) “the best Argentine film noir of the 1940s” according to the Museum of Modern Art in New York who screened the film as part of a season on film noir in postwar Argentina, in 2016.
An Argentine Story
Moreno uses Hardly A Criminal as his starting point for the screenplay of The Delinquents not to film a remake or adaptation, but due to its importance within the history of Argentine cinema. As he notes, filmmakers of his generation had mainly reacted against the traditions of this type of cinema.
Furthermore, he told Radar “I didn’t just do it with Hardly A Criminal, but with something broader. When I decided to include the music of Piazzolla, film Buenos Aires in the way I filmed it, I also dared to invoke the spirits of our own cinema. So that the audience watching the film could say, Ah, we’re watching an Argentine film.”
This is evident in the film’s soundtrack. Along with a classic tango from Astor Piazzolla and Gerry Mulligan, he also includes Piazzolla’s lesser-known ‘Symphony for Oboe’, together with songs from Argentine rock legend Pappo’s 1971 album Pappo Blues, and even a track from celebrated Chilean folk singer Violeta Parra.
“The idea of promoting a different type of life, that the relationship with work is different, that you should disobey the rules - all this has a lot to do with me. Even the film itself is a way of disobeying.” Says Moreno, At its heart his film asks us to consider the question, how should we spend our time on this planet. “This could be a cult classic” said The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, who gave the film five stars.
The Delinquents can be seen in cinemas from Friday 22nd March including Curzon and Picturehouse in London, Cambridge and Liverpool, as well as in Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, and Glasgow. Find your nearest screening here.
That’s all for now.
Saludos!
The Argentine Film Festival ream