Director: Rodrigo Moreno

Stars: Daniel Elias, Esteban Bigliardi, Margarita Molfino, Germán De Silva

Argentinian writer-director Moreno’s wildly ambitious film begins like a larky heist picture before transforming into an existential meditation on loneliness, freedom, and desire. Morán (Elias) is a meek single bank clerk tired of his wage slave routine in busy Buenos Aires. He hatches a plan to steal money from the bank, and then confess and do his prison time, which he estimates will be three-and-a-half years. On release, he will pick the money up he has hidden. He pressurizes his equally uninspired colleague Román (Bigliardi) into helping him, emphasising that it is not greed that motivates him, rather a desire for a quiet life. Complications ensue during Morán’s incarceration which means Román must leave his girlfriend for a night and switch the money to another location of Morán’s choosing. This is in idyllic rural Córdoba and during his visit, a potential new life of contentment presents itself for Román. The plot’s intrigues and twists are complicated further by the similarities between character names, suggesting a certain permeability and everyman quality to their identities – one actor even turns up as two different antagonists. The theme of sad sacks finding some sort of potential good life could be the stuff of rueful comedy, but director Moreno injects a real melancholy into proceedings with some arrestingly lyrical passages, while the leads convey an appealing vulnerability as they ponder paths not taken. Cinematographer Alejo Maglio effectively contrasts the dusty bustle of Buenos Aires with the sun-kissed bucolic scenes.

David Willoughby

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