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Burnt Money

2000, Movie, R, 125 mins

Burnt Money: Review

BURNT MONEY | PLATA QUEMADA | VIES BRULEES
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"They're young. They're in love. They kill people." BONNIE & CLYDE's famous tagline could just as easily describe this violent yet oddly romantic true-crime drama set in mid-'60s Argentina. Nene (Leonardo Sbaraglia) and Angel (Eduardo Noriega) are darkly handsome roughnecks who meet while cruising a public restroom in Buenos Aires. Nene is filled to brimming with self-loathing; Angel hears voices and is probably schizophrenic. Together, they make an ideal couple and are soon inseparable. They become known in criminal circles as "The Twins," not just because they look alike but because they look the same — both have that dead, blank glare found in the eyes of true sociopaths. When a drug-addled, former tango singer (Luis Zembosky) decides he needs cash, he hires Fontana (Ricardo Bartis), a professional crook with a mug like something out of Dick Tracy, to knock over a pay truck. Fontana in turn recruits the "Twins" and a coked-up playboy named Cuervo (Pablo Echarri). On a rain-soaked afternoon in September, the heist goes down, and quickly goes bad: The two policemen in the truck are killed, Angel is seriously wounded, and the gang, now labeled cop killers, is wanted by every policeman in the city. Angel, Nene, Fontana and Cuervo slip into neighboring Uruguay, where they're told to stay put until fake passports can be arranged. But as they remain holed up for days on end in a ratty Montevideo apartment, things slowly start to go haywire. Angel's already fragile emotional state deteriorates even further: He refuses to have sex with Nene (his semen, he thinks, is now sacred), the voices get louder and he's mainlining drugs. Frustrated, Nene starts cruising the midway of a nearby amusement park and meets Giselle (Leticia Brédice), a prostitute who offers him a way out, but for a price. Sex, drugs, gunplay, countless exploding squibs, poetry, the Twist — you name it, director Marcelo Piñeyro has found room for it, and the whole thing ends in a cataclysmic police standoff to end all police standoffs. But the most affecting parts of this film are its quieter, character-driven moments, and it's beautifully acted; if there is indeed an "Argentinean New Wave" afoot, Brédice might be its Anna Karina. "Surfin' Bird" and "Wild Thing" feature prominently on the soundtrack, along with songs by Brenda Lee, Dale Hawkins and various Spanish-language pop stars of the era. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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