This week's Hyde Park Pick
HPPH recommends The Delinquents as the film you can't miss this week.
Robb Barham
‘Adonde está la libertad’ – “Where is the freedom?”
It’s a fairly simple conundrum, but an important one for a cinema. How do you write a film synopsis or tell someone about a movie you love, without giving away too much of the plot - whilst at the same time offering enough information and feeling about a film to encourage the biggest audience possible to see it?
Our film pick this week The Delinquents (2023) is a perfect example of this and indeed, is itself a conundrum of epic proportions. Many reviews and writing about the film has focussed on the pivotal bank heist, which has led some audiences to expect something very different from what director Rodrigo Moreno actually delivers, and come away disappointed, frustrated or even angry.
Yes, there is a heist, but it’s the slowest, most undramatic heist you’ll likely see on film. And that’s not really giving anything away either. Rather it’s a good example of how this film decides, seemingly on a whim, to meander it’s way to something altogether more existential, moving and liberating.
Before the word existential puts anyone off though, there are also myriad clues, mysterious narrative loops and branches, anagrammatic names, and the same actor playing different characters, to enjoy and intrigue. And it’s all done with a sun-drenched languidness, deadpan humour and gentle sincerity that is thoroughly engrossing.
There are loose ends, digressions and and even a feeling sometimes of being lost in the freedom of the film’s structure. But these are also essential aspects of life that we all experience, aren’t they? These gaps and spaces within our own stories are just as important to discover and explore. And there lies the answer to the conundrum.
What The Delinquents offers is a space to savour and contemplate, with an open mind and a sense of freedom which is nowadays becoming a rare opportunity. An opportunity that this film, in our cinema, can deliver.
The Delinquents plays at HPPH daily from Friday 29th March. Showtimes and tickets are available here.
