The Delinquents (2023) User Reviews

Interesting, yet uneven, heist movie

[chenp-54708 · 6/10 · 16 December 2023]

Filmmaker Rodrigo Moreno creates a three-hour long heist drama with some interesting dynamics and concepts explored within the setting of the narrative and while Moreno does provide some strong elements, it isn't strong enough to withhold the entire movie.

Throughout, the camerawork, production and the sound design is pretty good as it helps capture the environment and tone. Many of the performances from the cast members are pretty good with some interesting dialogue and concepts explored. Moreno's direction is pretty solid as well. The narrative is a slow-burn heist drama movie that explores different themes including bank robbery, capitalism, freedom and so forth and the narrative does explore some of these concepts well but at the same time, not so well. Because the structure of the narrative feels uneven as if the narrative is a bit lost on what it is trying to be or wanting to tell.

Due to the uneven structure, it causes the story to feel a bit messy as it the first 1-hour is amazing but the rest feels a little convoluted or a bit lost. Which causes the run-time to feel a little exhausting and unfulfilling. There are some good soundtrack choices, some of the characters are interesting but some could have been explored a bit more.

Overall, Moreno definitely has a vision with this movie and it's a decent achievement from him and Argentinian cinema. But it could be stronger.

DUPLICITY

[js-66130 · 7/10 · 24 November 2023]

Warning: three hour movie incoming!

No worries, split this sprawl in two, and away we go. First half is a bank caper, the second an existential quest for idyllic existence. Nice.

Moran is a frumpy, bald bank teller, stuck in a nine to five glum who decides to shake up his life with an inside heist. His anagram Roman is an lanky bank teller who becomes an odd accomplice. Their anagram Norma is an effervescent hippie and the object of their desires. Their anagram is Namor and that has nothing to do with this film.

Moran is a man of simple means, who calculates exactly how much he needs to swipe to match his cumulative pay upon retirement, allowing escape from the rat race. Seems fair. His other calculation is three and a half years, which is the time spent in jail upon surrender with good behavior. Again, what could go wrong? Roman is reluctantly roped into the audacious plan, which surprisingly seems plausible, save a couple of hiccups.

Part two: the major hiccup: Norma. A dark-haired, free spirit prancing about the countryside with her film-maker friends, collecting eggs, riding horses, splashing in a swimming hole. Sweet. Moran and Roman fall for her in separate story lines, and it looks like we are headed for an anagram triangle confrontation. Also the bank starts to close in, and the tension begins, but when the movie should start to ramp up, it instead meanders and lingers on mundane passages instead. Sigh.

Lots of filmy things going on here, starting with the beautiful expanse of the Argentine countryside, and the savouring of life's simple pleasures. An actor plays two characters and it somehow makes sense. Split screen shots feature Roman and Moran pondering their individual fate over cigarettes in different time lines.

For a heist and love triangle film, there's a dearth of action, and not much return on your buck. This is a very small film with a very lengthy running time. Three hours may be a tall ask, but there is something weirdly captivating to savour, not just the characters, but the whole experience. "Delinquents" is quite captivating in an offbeat way.

• hipCRANK.

A slow burn heist film

[RahulM007 · 7/10 · 22 October 2023]

Rodrigo Moreno's "Los delincuentes" is a slow burn bank robbery/heist film strengthened by its strong performances and stunning cinematography. With its three-hour runtime, it might be too much of an undertaking for average moviegoers. That being said, the runtime is certainly felt and should have been an hour shorter. The film ends by giving audiences three possible scenarios to think about of where the characters might have ended up. The ending is ambiguous and open to interpretation. Speaking of the thought-provoking ending, Ramon is a true friend. He literally waited more than three years for Moran to be released from prison. In the meantime, he could have easily taken the money and left his friend in a ditch. That is the definition of friendship. Also, I really loved how the filmmaker portrays Moran and Ramon's romantic relationship with Norma. Ramon and Norma have more of a fiery, passionate, and salacious relationship, while Moran and Norma connect through intellectually stimulating conversations.

Final verdict: 7.5/10.

With over 3 hours running time, stretching the patience of average movie goers. Still, there is a lot to admire to warrant the length, though a bit of trimming would not hurt

[JvH48 · 7/10 · 20 October 2023]

Saw this at the 2023 filmfestival Ghent (Belgium). Upfront, before seeing the film, I saw harsh words in the IMDB user reviews and positive reviews from professionals. Such contradictions never fail to attract me. Usually, the users are right when I compare it with my own preferences. The professionals, on the other hand, tend to discuss aspects that may be relevant for the state-of-the-art, but fail to interest me as a rule. This film is the exception: users are wrong, and professionals are right.

In this case, all the user reviews focused on the length and the lacking contents to warrant the indeed generous running time over 3 hours. Though I must admit I missed the last hour due other priorities, I had no problems sitting out the first 2 hours. It was an original plot to rob a bank this way. There are logical consequences to be expected, like mistakes in the execution of the heist, or wrongly trusting a colleague with the loot. But it all went in a different direction. I'm glad that it deviated from the expected downtrodden path (e.g., trusted colleague takes the loot and leaves for a country far away). I regret that I did not complete the full journey, contrary to aforementioned naysayers.

Maybe above text is against the rules, having not completed the full three hours, but I could not refrain from a bit of compensation against the three users who reviewed before me. Try the dive and judge for yourselves.

The Delinquents

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 29 March 2024]

"Morán" (Daniel Elías) concludes that his dreary drudge at the bank over the next 25 years is only going to earn him $325k so rather than slug it out, he decides to pinch double that then ask his unwitting colleague "Román" (Esteban Bigliardi) to hide the cash whilst he does his prison sentence. That way, they can both enjoy a pleasant early retirement. The theft all goes remarkably easily and before he turns himself in, our thief goes for a bit of a road trip then goes to the police to confess all and receive the anticipated jail term. After a bit of a rocky start, and the transfer of some "protection" money, his incarceration settles down into something fairly uneventful for "Morán". The same can't be said for his friend on the outside. Though he had a cast iron alibi for the time of the robbery, his bank bosses gradually begin to think he is in some way involved - and they start to make his life a bit miserable. Despondent, he travels to a remote town to hide the loot under a boulder - and that's where he meets "Norma" (Margarita Molfino). With things not going too well at home with wife, children and his anxiety, well you can guess what happens... Now we have an interval - a rather pace-sapping exercise before part two fills us in on just what happened when "Morán" went on his journey. Small world? I wondered if there might be a clue here in the names all being anagrams of each other? We have a "Morna" too! Otherwise, this is a rather nondescript drama that takes far, far too long to get anywhere - and even when it does, it sees to have no desire to conclude with anything meaningful. Right from the beginning, it takes a swipe at all things routine and regimented, and seems be offering both men an opportunity for (eventual) freedom, but the substance to the plot is just really lacking as we rather meander through an observational and not really very interesting story that just never catches fire.

A quasi stroke of genius...

[anxiousgayhorseonketamine · 9/10 · 24 January 2024]

This is an incredibly original piece of cinema. It mixes philosophical tale with a bank heist which really is not the centre part of this movie. The centre part of this movie is a reflection on modern living and the insanity of the race to do things faster the pointlessness of the modern lifestyle, or something akin

The slow deliberate rhythm of this film seems to be a stumbling block for many personally I wish it carried on for a couple more hours ; it leaves us at the end with a lot of unfinished business a lot of untied loose ends

And maybe that is exactly what is needed but it could've gone so many other ways

The director and the scriptwriter (one and the same) made some choices here and they will please some and leave others guessing

It can take a while to see that something is happening that is worth watching if you stick at it you will be rewarded with a very unusual tale .... touch of Rohmer (the highest accolade possible) touch of Antonioni (also the highest accolade possible) 🙂🙃😉

A movie for thinkers romantics and dreamers ...... others will not like this i would surmise ....

For me a solid nine. Oh yes and this is definitely a comedy not hahaha but subtle and simmering ....

PS and then the penny dropped the face of Esteban Bigliardi kept reminding me of another actor and it was French-Italian Yves Montand ... so an Italian face then.

So good

[tjbergen · 10/10 · 21 December 2023]

This movie is so good, just a long, sweet mediation. The actors are great, the scenery is lovely, the story has a neat twist - I just can't say enough about what refreshing change of pace it was, a very 70's-late hippie sensibility to the film, like Easy Rider, say, laid back but with meaningful social commentary with a very respectful portrayal bordering on documentary of a sweet, simple land and life, none of which had to be explained or described or tediously walked through in a simplistic narrative fashion as is the case with most movies. It was a very satisfying aesthetic experience. The poem of the Great Salt Flats was new to me and I look forward to reading it again, I hope sales go through the roof thanks to the movie.

Agree with excessive amount of time. It has spoilers, but you better read it before spending 3 hours of your life

[sebasm2108 · 4/10 · 29 October 2023]

As other comments here, this is absolutely non-sense long.

It starts really good and somehow you get involved when the signatures of two customers are the same to withdraw some money just to realize this won't have any impact later on the movie.

The fact of Moran stealing the money (with really poor calculation at his desk, using calculator and taking the paper) gave some excitement and then you are expecting the real development of the plot after this when he also decides to include Roman to divide the bounty.

But then the disappointment is huge when the whole rest of the movie is focused on the trip of the two main characters to the village where they hide the dollars, the love affair they share with the same girl and then the uncertainty of what happened to the bounty once Moran is released of the jail.

This is two movies in one and no one is well developed. Either focus on the "heist" or the love story. But you finish the movie and you are like, "what the heck?"

I wouldn't say movie is "bad" but is not for all audiences and could have been better or get two different films.

Awesome Film

[cfbergoglio · 10/10 · 17 December 2023]

Interesting story with notes of humor and under an atmosphere of tension of two bank co-workers who agree to a pact between themselves, tired of the routine of their jobs. How part of the pact they travel to Cordoba and get involved with 3 people who are making a film. A Chilean and two sisters. Excellent music accompanying the tension. Photography with long shots. Enjoy the length of the movie. I see a lot of negative reviews in that regard. Personally, I think that the Director decided that time was part of the film, because it even takes place in approximately 4 years in the lives of the characters. The film is very well set, very good photography. Very good use of transitions in the editing of the film. I loved it. I recommend it without hesitation.

A 90 minute film in a mere three hours

[dc_chicago · 2/10 · 15 October 2023]

Let me begin by noting that I am not a big fan of fast moving films. I can handle slow pace and thoughtful scenic shots. But I signed in to this site primarily to give a thumbs up to the review by eviltrav above. That review precisely gets at what is wrong with this film. I suppose that movie critics have 3 hours to spend on a film like this, but I do not. Lots of subplots that go nowhere, lots of lengthy scenes of minor characters doing useless things which do nothing to develop their character, and long slow panning shots to nowhere. Too bad, because the plot device is a clever one, the characters are well developed at the beginning of the film, and the acting is good. The writing is pretty good for the first half and then it just falls apart. The director clearly fell in love with some of his footage and just couldn't bear to edit it.

From one world to another

[MaxDMensa · 10/10 · 4 November 2023]

A very realistic start where we see a bank employee carefully steal $650,000 and later turn himself in - without the money. His plan was to slip the money to a fellow employee, serve an anticipated three and a half years in jail and then split the hidden money with his accomplice. We might expect this plan to get uglier than anticipated - and it does, as a leader of the inmates threatens to kill him if he doesn't arrange to funnel some of the missing loot into the other prisoner's account. The bulk of the loot gets hidden under a rock in a remote rural location. But then the story takes a left turn where the two protagonists at different times are drawn iinto a a film crew and locals in the countryside trying to record independent forces of nature. Where time seemed like everythng before it is almost nothing for a while as we are captive to a long unplanned experience, including relationships with a local woman. The movie takes much of its three hour running time to immerse us in this unstructured world where the acting and the setting rather than the plot keep us engaged. The film juxtaposes the necessary rigid struggles of living and working in the city versus living more freely among the elements. As nice as the latter sounds, it would take money for the two main characters to find eventual freedom - and the money was not theirs and they were not heroes. A pervasive blues record that gets played here and there tells it like it is.

Serious pacing problems

[luanfriburgo1991 · 4/10 · 24 December 2023]

4 stars is a very generous rating from me, I only give such a high rating to such a boring film because the story even tries to discuss some interesting themes, albeit very prosaically.

I also like the cinematography and some of the locations a little, but that's it, the film is tremendously boring and has serious pacing problems, it's over three hours long and could very simply be shortened to around 90 minutes without losing much of the substance. Narrative that isn't much.

In this way, this review acts as a bit of a warning so that you don't waste too much time of your life watching such an insipid narrative. I don't want to use the word pretentious, but I think it's useful here.

The film simply does not respect the viewer's time, it has a very basic and rudimentary script, disguised in such a way as to make the inattentive viewer think they are watching something of substance.

Come to think of it, considering the total lack of respect in taking so much time without having much to say, 4 stars is perhaps too condescending a rating.

In short, the film is tremendously boring because it is unnecessarily long, perhaps if it weren't so long it would expose what is truly true, a film of little substance.

Who did they pay to rate this high?

[miaharpr · 2/10 · 31 December 2023]

Predictably one of those slow burns with a blah ending. The first quarter was actually intriguing and had me glued to my screen, but the pacing gradually disappoints throughout the film's progression. I understand that it's supposed to have a deeper commentary about life, but they didn't need to spend 30 seconds per shot to show how profound and thought-provoking of a film it is. Literally the two people I was watching with fell asleep, and what made it more excruciating was seeing "End of Part One" and "Part Two" on screen. It was such a struggle to finish it. We had to eventually start fast forwarding scenes because we learned that a whole chunk of the dialogue was not crucial to the plot. If you like slow burns, go for it. I don't like Transformers for those who think I'm just hating, I just didn't enjoy this particular bedtime story.

Long, bloated and boring

[eviltrav · 2/10 · 20 August 2023]

Saw this film at the Melbourne International Film Festival and was deeply deeply diappointed.

The film runs for three hours and it absolutely does not require the massive run time, as so little of consequence actually happens in the film. The bank robbery angle is an intriguing place to start the story and the banality of the workplace provides some moments of amusement and intrigue.

However the director soon gets bored with the central premise of the story and gets distracted by meandering through a variety of inconsequential subplots. These subplots end up contributing little to the film's plot overall. By the end it was really making me angry at how slow the plot was and how little the director cared about my time.

I have rarely been so bored during a film, honestly would have walked out if I hadn't been with a bunch of people who wanted to stay.

I'd ignore the inexplicably positive reviews by the high and mighty artsy film critics, save three hours and skip this one.

I guess that I didn't get it.

[somf · 3/10 · 18 December 2023]

I am smarter than your average bear, really, but I am amazed at how much I truly disliked this very well reviewed film. I think the director is horrendous. The acting was good. The main story had some good elements. It may have played pretty well with a more mainstream style and at about half the runtime, but what weird choices this director made. He loves using awkward split screens that have little to no relevance. "Oh look it is a split screen, both those characters are being reflective and smoking a cigarette in the dark at the same time. How creative!"

I really despised the soundtrack. It never evoked a relevant feeling or enhanced any scenes. It reminded me of the music in a 1970s Western TV show. Boring and forgettable.

I suppose some people are going to get a lot from the long seemingly strange uneventful scenes that make up more than half the runtime. Many critics did at least. I sure did not though.

Long, bloated and boring (2)

[paul-str · 2/10 · 10 October 2023]

Eviltrav wrote...........................

" The film runs for three hours and it absolutely does not require the massive run time, as so little of consequence actually happens in the film. The bank robbery angle is an intriguing place to start the story and the banality of the workplace provides some moments of amusement and intrigue.

However the director soon gets bored with the central premise of the story and gets distracted by meandering through a variety of inconsequential subplots. "

Totally agree with eviltrav. Have just seen this in London. A brave distributor who picks this one up.

This is literally the worst movie of the year

[CarmenCarmen · 1/10 · 30 October 2023]

I can't believe I wasted 3 hours of my time in the theater with this piece of you know what. Learn to tell a story and learn to edit a film you horrible horrible director. I think you were a genius for hiring a publicist and a producer that some how got you into Cannes and Tiff, but you should feel so much shame for wasting my time, my girlfriend's time and everyone who paid money at the Laemmle Royale tonight. I literally hope you never get a chance to make another film for having wasted 3 hours of my time. For the love of god steer clear of this self indulgent 3 hour debacle. It really is the worst movie of the year.

This story setup sounded really funny, but the execution is dreadful

[imseeg · 3/10 · 22 December 2023]

What's most annoying about this movie are not the average actors (they try to act to their best capabilities, which are mediocre). What's most annoying is not the below average quality of all the technical details (photography, sound) which are below average as well.

What's REALLY annoying is that some directors think they actually can get away with making a DREADFULLY TEDIOUS movie like this last for OVER 3 hours! What the what.

Who is not gonna fall asleep while watching this WITHIN the very first hour? I couldnt believe how incredibly uneventful this story turned out to be. What disappointment!

Incredibly Boring

[dennisbhamilton · 2/10 · 16 December 2023]

I (for the most part) will watch any movie with an IMDB rating of seven or higher and this has worked for me in the vast majority of films I have picked using this criteria. But, in this instance this "system" failed me. This has to be THE slowest moving film I have ever watched in my 62 years. I have to admit that I did not even finish watching this movie. I had to shut it off after about the 1:15 mark. This was just so incredibly boring. I just was waiting for something, anything to happen but it just kept getting more tedious and boring. On the plus side it was very well shot, the cinematography was excellent. Perhaps I only noticed this because there was so little else to see in this film. If ever a movie needed editing it was this one.

Well I guess I'm a heathen then...

[johndeckernz · 1/10 · 8 March 2024]

I love films. I have over 2000 of them many of which I have seen multiple times, and many of which are foreign.

So I looked forward to watching this one, based on the glowing reviews. What a waste of three hours.

The premise is good and the many potential plot lines promise so much. But just as they are developing nicely they are abandoned in favour of either someone starting wistfully into space or some absolutely inconsequential bit of rubbish. Worst of all the central plot, which you have given three hours of your life to, leads absolutely nowhere and you are left with a feeling of being robbed.

I suppose I'm supposed to feel some kind of existential angst or something, or wonder in awe at the mystical poetic beauty of it all but, really, it's a lot of pretentious nonsense which leaves one simply annoyed.

I buy 99.9% of the films I see. This one I wouldn't keep if someone gave it to me.

What just hapened???

[olearnikola · 2/10 · 25 December 2023]

This is plain horrible!!

One of the worst movies I have ever seen and I've seen a lot!

Three+ wasted hours on this so called movie, or whatever this was..... tragic!

I want those 3 hours back to my life!

Boring, clueless, no plan, no idea, no point...... Really, is this even possible??

Even with only one hour long (out of 3!!), this would be wasted time.

I love Argentinian cinematography.

But what was this?

Acting so-so, everything else - to cry for!

Like the director had too much tape and had to spend as much as possible.

Embarrassing.

I give it 2 out of 10 and I am being really generous!

A psuedo-artistic sleeping pill disguised as a heist movie

[pjpj-72890 · 2/10 · 17 April 2024]

Not only the bank is being robbed but also the viewer. Unfortunately, I will never get these three hours of my time back.

Part one of the film is watchable yet mediocre at best. Part two is actually even worse. Over an hour and a half in which hardly anything happens. As a reward for my patience (true heroism if you ask me!) the story concludes with an open ending.

A train wreck of a film that will only appeal to a select group of pseudo-intellectuals. Luckily I won (the term 'winning' is an unfortunate choice of words in this case) my movie ticket in a contest and therefore only my time was stolen.

Pretentious twaddle

[kzjjnc · 3/10 · 31 March 2024]

What could've been a very clever heist film with an ingenious twist descends into an ego-fest by the Director and Writer Rodrigo Moreno. Long, boring periods of auteur film making and portentous prose which add nothing to the main story arc and if edited out, might've made the film running time a sensible 2 hours instead of the ridiculous 3 hours that I'll never get back. And then a ridiculous art house ending of the main protagonist riding off into the sunset with no resolution to the main plot!!

There's also a lot of very creepy sex between the two middle-aged protagonists and the very young and beautiful female lead - the director and writer Moreno trying to make us believe she'd fall in love with either of him, so it felt like he was writing about his own fantasies which wasn't very pleasant.

The landscapes were beautiful and the first part of the story - the bank heist by a disaffected employee and his involvement of another employee in his plan to keep the money - were the best part of the film, which was absolute garbage.

If you do one good thing this year - don't waste your time seeing this film, there's a lot better crafted films released at the moment!

I don't get it.

[phlbrq58 · 5/10 · 9 April 2024]

Glad I'm not the only one here who doesn't understand the high regard this film holds for many. I don't often go to theatrical screens these days. Saw this at a museum film series that's featured great past and contemporary international films. Upon exiting the theater I commented my displeasure to a fellow attendee who thought well of it. My criticisms bounced off his defence of the 3 hour run time, indifferent acting, murky cinematography, pointless story and unsatisfying ending. "So is life", was his rationale. Uh, ok?!

My real complaint is with the review community I read prior to attending this. The praise out weighed the more accurate cautionary warnings.

Thankfully a month later the series featured 'Perfect Days'. I loved THIS 2 hours of nothing much happening.

Not bad, but very flawed

[foxtografo · 5/10 · 13 April 2024]

Firstly, I'll adhere to the popular opinion, this film is too long and needs quite a lot of editing, because it just doesn't need to be this long.

Still, I made it through the whole 3hs length, so it's not unwatchable, the pace is slow but it didn't feel like a pain to watch.

The story kept me interested and curious about what would happen, but the dialogs were a bit stiff and not too clever. Really not much the style of the regular "porteño" (people from Buenos Aires city), but then again the characters aren't from originally from there..

My main complain about the film is the acting. Most of the main characters felt like they were reading from a screen what they say, more than having feelings about it. For example the scene where one of the characters describes something that happened in his childhood, it he felt so disconnected from it, it was hard to watch. Having this feeling with most of the characters make me wonder if it's a problem with the direction, which wouldn't surprise me since the length of the film is such a miss..

On the bright side, being from argentina and having lived abroad for so long, seeing footage of Buenos Aires and Córdoba (which is a very popular destination for trekking and camping, done that a few times there and I love that area) makes me nostalgic and I really enjoy it.

The cinematography is interesting, not only because of the locations that I love, but the framings, the zooms and the camera work in general give some particular style to the move and I really appreciated and enjoyed.

Then in terms of story, I found it to be a bit anticlimactic in the end, at least in terms of characters reaction to the situations (again, the dialogs and acting failed to impress me).

There was some message there, with which I could relate, like the feeling of wanting to live a simpler life in nature, but the love triangle was a bit bland in the end.

I don't know if I would recommend someone to watch this movie, it's really too long for what it is and there are many better options from Argentinian cinema to look up before this one.

It's really a mixed bag, but the scale weight a bit more to the side of disappointment than enjoyment.