A still from ‘The Delinquents’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Delinquents story began many years and many films ago, according to Rodrigo Moreno. Speaking over a video call from Los Angeles, the Argentine director said, “I was invited to remake Hardly a Criminal , an old Argentine film from the 40s directed by Hugo Fregonese.” The offer came when Moreno was two films old. The Delinquents is Moreno’s seventh film.
“I had a problem with the film’s subject. The film was about a man who wants to steal money from his employer to live like a millionaire. I am not interested in money or a luxurious lifestyle so I rejected the project.” The seed of a remake, Moreno says, was planted in his mind. “I was interested in engaging with the traditional, classic period in Argentine cinema.”
Two-headed monster
And so Moreno returned to the project. “I changed the goal of the character from one goal to two, like a monster with two heads.” Morán, played by Daniel Elías is the bank clerk who steals double the money he would earn if he works till retirement. Morán tells his colleague Román, played by Esteban Bigliardi, to hide the money for him while he (Morán) gives himself up and serves the jail sentence.
Morán, Moreno says, is interested in time, not money. “He looks at work as something that takes over his life. We live in a world where work is central to our lives. I wanted to make a film about someone who wishes to change that.”
Long-form storytelling
Argentine director Rodrigo Moreno
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
The length of the film, 180 minutes, has been commented upon. “It is shorter than Avatar for example; it is also shorter than some Marvel movies! I have two kids, and go to the movies with them. I spend three-and-a-half hours watching people fight digitally. So why can’t my movie last three hours?”
The story, Moreno says, needed that much time to be told. “What the film is saying in those three hours, is the question. The length is not an abstract thing. In the first part of the film, I took the time to show the details of taking the money, the routine in the bank and of the investigation, which in turn allows me to give the secondary characters time.”
Chosen as the Argentine entry for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars
The second part, Moreno says is about freedom. “What the character feels using time productively versus non-productively. That led me to make a non-productive film. The second part is to prepare the spectator for the pleasure of a life without the pressure of routine.”
The Delinquents was chosen as the Argentine entry for Best International Feature Film for the Academy Awards — but it did not make the shortlist. “First, it’s an honour because my colleagues chose the film to represent Argentina at the Oscars. It is a responsibility because Argentina has a strong film tradition. And third, or maybe first, it’s a big misunderstanding!” (laughs)
A still from The ‘Delinquents’
A genre-defying film, Moreno describes The Delinquents as many films in one. “It is not just a heist film or an existential one, a love story, a Western or a comedy. The Delinquents borrows from all these genres to make one long film and one long story.”
On his casting for the film
The cast, Moreno says, is composed of actors he has worked with before. “Esteban Bigliardi, who plays Román, was the protagonist of A Mysterious World (The 2011 film was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival) and Reimon (2012). Germán de Silva, who plays two roles — the bank manager, Del Toro and leader in the prison, Garrincha, is also someone I worked with a lot. Daniel Elías, who plays Morán is new actor and he is a great person.”
Moreno has an idiosyncratic approach to casting. “I look for how the actors are as persons not as performers. I use things from the actors to direct them, during the mise en scene. A film works as a documentary of the actors. When you watch a film, you also see the people behind the actors. That’s the power of cinema, always capturing the present. Cinema is always a documentary; it does not matter if it is fiction or fact, an essay or experimental.”
The Delinquents is currently streaming on MUBI
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