Burnt Money, a provocative, severe crime thriller from Argentina, begins like a Spanish- language Guy Ritchie narrative, with an assembly of criminals arranging a heist. Yet the heist is over in a glance. The lion's share of the story is the impact of the job. So much of this film seems already acquainted, from its appealing crime thriller stylization to its narrative echoes of Reservoir Dogs, Heat and Bonnie and Clyde, that when it takes one of its unprecedented turns it overcomes you. There are a lot of unforeseen detours.The opening introduces us to Angel and Nene, gay lovers who live in a murky Buenos Aires apartment. A narrator notifies us that they are known as "the twins." After showing how they met, in a grungy public restroom, the narrator distinguishes the one telling way they are similar: "the still eyes, the lost glare." The knifelike center on character relationships, and the novelistic way the story is divulged through sequential narrators, featuring internal monologue, prepares us to pull back to enmesh the "twins" in the heist. Neither they, nor the story, are as they appear.Leonardo Sbaraglia plays Nene with scorched vigor. He has the loose-hipped walk of a younger Robert Downey, Jr., yet oozing even more with suggestiveness. His underhanded approach to life is not smug or justified, but rather self-assuredly devoid of any overeagerness or vanity. Eduardo Noriega brings a preyed-upon sentimentality to Angel. We feel at first as if he may be slow, and perhaps to some extent he is, but in a way that is lost in emotionally charged internalized delusions, a return to the primordial dilemma. He seems afloat in dissolution, a dream state readily seen. And their emotional holding out becomes a game that neither wins. Where they are intimate, there is peace restored, and there are religious obstacles.The robbery of an armored car goes awry. The thieves, one of them injured, must stay completely out of sight. Law-sided demoralization and violence are initial drives of the story's turning point though not at the center. The film, which is based on a true story, offhandedly concedes that the lines separating cops from robbers are obscured, but its focus remains tight on the robbers.One should not write this film off as categorized for a gay target audience. Though it revolves around the two implicitly loving leads, Burnt Money seems to compete with much more vivid heterosexual pairings. Nene swings both ways, and Cuervo, the getaway driver played by Pablo Escharri, has a girlfriend who figures integrally in the plot. After the men flee to Uruguay, police beatings push the left-behind girlfriend to give them up. Their status revealed, the robbers must stay out of sight, pressures mounting. Anti-gay implications add to the enmity. They don't trust each other, everyone keeps a gun at hand, but attachments gradually solidify nonetheless.Burnt Money could have almost been made in the 1970s, when a film with the promise of spectacle in its subject matter was almost expected to take the more complex way to the end, no matter what the end may be. And yet the film reaches a climax we've seen so many times. Nevertheless, even in its brutal execution which extrinsically offers not much in the way of variation on a device dating back to the original 1932 Scarface, it maintains a theme of dissolution, a dream state made real to them, of feelings taking over, a theme which, in the end, makes the film its own beast.

Inspired by a true story, this movie took place in Argentina and Uruguay in 1965 when a couple of gay lovers involved in a money robbery and then hunted down by swarms of cops. In the end, they both burnt the money they had robbed and died together. They were right or wrong? That depends on you but honestly, this movie is one of the best of its category with amazing acting by both main actors (Leonardo Sbaraglia as Nene and Eduardo Noriega as Angel) plus extraordinarily good cinematography. Many people may say that this movie is full of violence, sex and nudity but they all must agree that the love story it contains is so much beautiful that touch everyone's hearts. Their relationship was challenged by that wrong decisions, betrayal and jealousy but they both finally found somebody to share each other's life and death. No matter if you are gay or straight, liberal or conservative, you will all enjoy every second of this incredibly well-made movie. No man will regret that he chose to see this masterpiece. Marcelo Pineyro, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Eduardo Noriega should have won many more awards than they already did. I don't know if it has ever been on screen in the US,; if yes, it should be nominated for the best actors, best director and best cinematography categories, if not, the academy members must be ashamed of themselves.

Marcelo Pineyro, one of the best directors from Argentina, surprises with every new effort. Working on this film with Marcelo Figueras, he also contributed to bring Ricardo Piglia's novel to the screen with unexpected results. The novel was based on a real criminal case that happened in Buenos Aires in the 1960's. The two men at the center of the story are gay lovers who happened to be criminals. These two men share a passion that comes across on the screen like no other in recent memory. Angel, the Spaniard, wants to go to New York and Nene, his lover, wants to comply, but first they must attend to the assault of a vehicle that brings money to one bank. During the heist Angel is shot on his shoulder. Things are so hot for all the people involved, they flee to Uruguay. This was perhaps a miscalculation, because they are being followed by the Argentine police, that is working with local authorities in apprehending all the criminals. Nene is restless. He decides to leave the safe house, and finds Giselle, a beautiful woman who falls in love with him. At this point, we are of two minds, is Nene really cheating on Angel, or is he trying to use Giselle into providing another place where they can hide? The violent end comes in a finale that doesn't have anything to envy to any other movies of the genre.The best thing in the film are the two leads. Leonardo Sbaraglia is one of the best actors that have come out of Argentina lately. He does an amazing job in portraying Nene. Eduardo Noriega, is also a Spanish actor that has done excellent work before and he shows his range in a magnificent performance as Angel. Leticia Bredice is Giselle, the young woman in Montevideo who befriends, then fall in love with Nene.The film proves Marcelo Pineyro is a voice to be reckoned with and who has an enormous talent for giving his audience his best.

And fiery acting, too--especially the leads. After that, a strangely protracted mid-section, weirdly cut, which often left me dumbfounded. What was more confusing, on the video print I saw the film's English title appeared on screen about a half hour before the actual end. In fact, I thought the movie was finishing and credits about to roll.No such luck--it went on for what seemed an interminably drawn out finale. No wonder some might think it over the top. Yet, there was a strong visual style and iron-fisted acting from the principals throughout. Did I feel much for them? No, I merely observed their plight, with nary a moist tear formed for their requiem. Still, I note many appreciated this "male Bonnie and Clyde import," which apparently was based on true events.