Heroic Losers

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Heroic Losers
Theatrical release poster
SpanishLa odisea de los giles
Directed bySebastián Borensztein
Written by
Based onLa noche de la Usina
by Eduardo Sacheri
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRodrigo Pulpeiro
Edited byAlejandro Carrillo Penovi
Music byFederico Jusid
Production
companies
  • Kramer & Sigman Films
  • Kenya Films
  • MOD Producciones
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • 15 August 2019 (2019-08-15) (Argentina)
Running time
116 minutes
Countries
  • Argentina
  • Spain
LanguageSpanish
Box office$7.365 million[1]

Heroic Losers (Spanish: La odisea de los giles) is a 2019 Argentine heist film co-written and directed by Sebastián Borensztein, based on the novel La noche de la Usina (The Night of the Heroic Losers) by Eduardo Sacheri, who also co-wrote the screenplay. It features an ensemble cast including Ricardo Darín, Luis Brandoni, Chino Darín, Verónica Llinás, Daniel Aráoz, Carlos Belloso, Marco Caponi, Rita Cortese, and Andrés Parra.

Heroic Losers was released in Argentina on 15 August 2019, and it held its international premiere as part of the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film received praise for its performances, and critics compared it to How to Steal a Million (1966) and Ocean's Eleven (2001). It was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.[2]

Plot[edit]

In August 2001, in the small town of Villa Alsina, Fermín Perlassi, his wife Lidia and his friend Antonio Fontana come up with a plan to reopen an agricultural cooperative which went bankrupt years before. To do so, they learn the minimal investment to cover the initial costs reaches 300,000 pesos and bring the idea to the town's residents: mechanic Rolo Belaúnde, self-employed fix-it brothers Gómez, unemployed riparian Medina and Carmén Lorgio, the town's shipping company's owner, who all agree and chip in. They manage to reach 158,653 pesos, which Fermín deposits in the bank vault in Villagrán.

A few days later, Alvarado, the bank manager, summons Fermín to the bank and manipulates him into depositing the money in his own account. Fermín complies and travels back to Alsina, but the financial crisis reaches its peak the next day as the President decides to freeze every U.S. dollar-denominated accounts in Argentina. Alvarado knew about the incoming government measures and personally approved a loan request by Fortunato Manzi, a lawyer who converted the credit to U.S. dollars and withdrew all deposited dollar bills from Fermín's bank. Fermín and Lidia confront Alvarado, to no avail. In the way back, their car is run off the road by a truck. The accident kills Lidia and severely injures Fermín.

One year later, Manzi hires a construction worker to dig a 10 square feet hole in the middle of a nearby rural area. Convinced that it serves as burial vault to store the dollars, Balaúnde, Fontana, Fermín, his son Rodrigo, Fontana, Medina, the Gómez brothers, Carmen and her son, Hernán, reunite and decide to crack the vault and retrieve their "stolen" money. Manzi, however, has installed an impenetrable alarm device around the vault. After rewatching a scene from How to Steal a Million, Fermín comes up with the idea to set off the alarm multiple times. This will force Manzi to disconnect its battery, which coupled with a power supply cut, would allow the crew to enter the vault. Meanwhile, Rodrigo poses as a gardener assigned to work at Manzi's office lawn to keep track of him.

Fermín and Fontana track the power cables and succeed in installing a junction box, repeatedly cutting and restoring the area's power supply and causing the alarm to set off multiple times a day. Manzi eventually disconnects the battery. His secretary Florencia, however, realizes Rodrigo is not a gardener, which prompts him to confess her their plans. Trusting she will not tell Manzi about it, Rodrigo convinces the group to carry on with the plan.

That night, the crew splits into two groups: Belaúnde and Medina are tasked with destroying the power generator that supplies the area while Fermin, Rodrigo and Hernán will break into the safe when the lights go off. By accident, Medina creates an explosion that destroys all generators, causing a massive blackout. Manzi, who is in a party affected by the power outage, suspects something is wrong and heads to the vault. Meanwhile, Fermín and the others break into the vault and proceed to retrieve the money. Manzi arrives soon after, but his car gets stuck in a mud barricade set by Fontana. The crew flees with the money as Manzi curses and threatens them by a distance. Later, they separate the money in two cars: one driven by Rodrigo and other by Hernán, and return to Alsina.

The next day, Fermin is consoling Cármen: Hernán ran away with nearly 2 million dollars in his car and haven't made contact since. In spite of that, they use the money to reopen the agricultural cooperative, which guarantees a better life for everyone in Alsina.

In a mid-credits scene, Manzi arrives at Fontana's auto shop with a flat tire. Fontana unzips his pants, rubs his mate's bombilla against his crotch, places it in the gourd and offers it to Manzi, who drinks it as his tire is swapped.

Cast[edit]

Ale Gigena and Guillermo Jacubowicz also appear as the Gómez brothers,[3] while Luciano Cazaux and Ailín Zaninovich appear as Alvarado and Florencia, respectively.[4]

Production[edit]

By 2017, Ricardo and Chino Darín's production company Kenya Films had acquired the film rights for the novel La noche de la Usina (2016) by Eduardo Sacheri.[5][6] Filming took place from October to December 2018 in the Buenos Aires Baradero, Luján and Lobos Partidos.[7][8] Alejandro Carrillo Penovi, the film's editor, was unavailable during filming, during which Ernesto Feder was asked to assemble a first cut, taking eight weeks. Penovi then continued editing the film for fifteen weeks.[9] At the Panamá International Film Festival in April 2019, Ricardo Darín announced the title as La odisea de los giles,[10] after previous tentative titles La noche de la usina and Los 8 de O'Connor had been considered.[11]

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

Heroic Losers was released in Argentina on 15 August 2019. During its opening four-day weekend, it sold 403,786 tickets in 482 cinemas,[12] making it the highest-opening domestic film of 2019.[13] After three weeks in cinemas, it became the highest-grossing local film of the year, with more than one million views.[14]

Critical response[edit]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 93% with an average score of 6.7/10, based on 27 reviews.[15] TodasLasCríticas, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100 based on 56 critics.[16]

Pablo Scholz of Clarín called the film a "great adaptation" of Sacheri's novel, and praised the cast as "impressively even and talented."[17] María Fernanda Mugica of La Nación wrote, "The script achieves an entertaining plot, interspersed with a reflection about human behavior and featuring characters with whom it is impossible not to empathize," and compared the plot and casting of familiar faces to Ocean's Eleven, although she noted the humor as the weakest aspect of the film.[18]

Further comparisons to Ocean's Eleven appeared throughout English-speaking reviews—referring to Darín's character as "an Argentinean Danny Ocean"—, which also noted the inspiration drawn from How to Steal a Million.[19] Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail gave the film three out of four stars, and called it "a thoroughly entertaining, if not especially enthralling, cinematic caper".[20] Variety's Scott Tobias wrote, "At close to a full two hours, 'Heroic Losers' takes too much time in the wind-up without the emotional payoffs Borensztein labors so hard to get." However, he praised "its expression of national character."[19] Writing for Screen Daily, Sarah Ward said, "Heroic Losers isn’t heavy on surprises; not in its comfortable rhythms, warm-hued look at rural Argentine struggles, overt fist-pumping moments or reliable performances. Borensztein’s feature also starts slowly, pads out its narrative and doesn’t quite know when to end. And yet, in transforming bleak reality into an uplifting fantasy, this remains a thoroughly likeable movie."[21]

In a more critical review, Luciano Monteagudo of Página/12 considered the film "a new step-back for big-budget Argentine cinema that in recent years—with few exceptions—has taken refuge in the most tested and conservative formulas."[22]

Accolades[edit]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Ariel Awards 27 September 2020 Best Ibero-American Film Sebastián Borensztein Nominated [23]
Forqué Awards 11 January 2020 Best Latin-American Film Heroic Losers Won [24]
Goya Awards 25 January 2020 Best Ibero-American Film Heroic Losers Won [25]
Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro 11 October 2020 Best Ibero-American Feature Film Heroic Losers Won [26]
Havana Film Festival 14 December 2019 Grand Coral Heroic Losers Nominated [27]
Palm Springs International Film Festival 11 January 2020 Best Foreign Language Film Heroic Losers Nominated [28]
Platino Awards 29 June 2020 Best Actor Ricardo Darín Nominated [29]
Best Film Editing Alejandro Carrillo Penovi Nominated
San Sebastián International Film Festival 28 September 2019 Golden Shell Heroic Losers Nominated [30]
Silver Condor 25 March 2021 Best Adapted Screenplay Sebastián Borensztein and Eduardo Sacheri Nominated [31]
Best Costume Design Julio Suárez Nominated
Best Art Direction Daniel Gimelberg Nominated
Best Make-up & Hairstyling Marisa Amenta and Malvina Mariani Nominated
Premios Sur 24 November 2020 Best Fiction Film Heroic Losers Nominated [32][33]
Best Director Sebastián Borensztein Nominated
Best Actor Ricardo Darín Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Carlos Belloso Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Verónica Llinás Won
Best Adapted Screenplay Sebastián Borensztein and Eduardo Sacheri Nominated
Best Costume Design Julio Suárez Nominated
Male Revelation Alejandro Gigena Nominated

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Heroic Losers". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  2. ^ Mango, Agustin (24 September 2019). "Oscars: Argentina Selects 'Heroic Losers' for International Feature Film Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Monti, Agus (14 August 2019). "La Odisea de los Giles: la crisis del 2001, el corralito y la venganza de un pueblo" [Heroic Losers: the 2001 crisis, the corralito and the people's revenge]. A24 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  4. ^ DeFore, John (19 September 2019). "'Heroic Losers' ('La odisea de los giles'): Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  5. ^ "El nuevo proyecto de Ricardo Darín que podría dar un vuelco en su carrera" [Ricardo Darín's new project that could make his career take a turn]. Clarín (in Spanish). 23 October 2017. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  6. ^ Lesser, Malen (22 August 2018). "Eduardo Sacheri: "Para construir un país no se necesita fanatismo, sino paciencia"" [Eduardo Sacheri: "To build a country you need not fanatism, but patience"]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  7. ^ Mendez, Gustavo (8 August 2018). "Peter Lanzani y el Chino Darin: los ángeles negros de Robledo Puch" [Peter Lanzani and Chino Darín: Robledo Puch's dark angels]. Perfil (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Sacheri: "Parece mentira que algo que escribí sea película"" [Sacheri: "I can't believe that something I wrote has become a film"]. Cadena 3 (in Spanish). 10 August 2019. Archived from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  9. ^ "Érase una vez un montador: Alejandro Carrillo Penovi (SAE)" [Once upon a time there was an editor: Alejandro Carrillo Penovi (SAE)]. Asociación de Montadores Audiovisuales de España (in Spanish). 21 April 2020. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  10. ^ Montesoro, Julia (8 April 2019). "Ricardo Darín inauguró el Festival de Panamá y anunció el estreno de "La odisea de los giles"" [Ricardo Darín inaugurated the Panamá Festival and announced the release of «La odisea de los giles»]. GPS Audiovisual (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  11. ^ Montesoro, Julia (14 August 2019). ""La odisea de los giles" (Estreno: 15 de agosto)" [«Heroic Losers» (Release date: 15 August)]. GPS Audiovisual (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  12. ^ Scholz, Pablo O. (20 August 2019). "La odisea de los giles: un éxito sin precedentes para el cine argentino reciente" [Heroic Losers: an unprecedented success in recent Argentine cinema]. Clarín (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Cine: el éxito de "La odisea de los giles" es una bocanada de aire fresco en una época de butacas vacías" [Film: "Heroic Losers" success is a breath of fresh air in a time of empty seats]. Infobae (in Spanish). 22 August 2019. Archived from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  14. ^ "La odisea de los giles superó el millón" [Heroic Losers surpassed a million]. La Nación (in Spanish). 3 September 2019. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  15. ^ "Heroic Losers". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  16. ^ "La odisea de los giles". Todas Las Críticas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 October 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  17. ^ Scholz, Pablo O. (14 August 2019). "Crítica de La odisea de los giles: Todos unidos triunfaremos" [Heroic Losers review: all united we will triumph]. Clarín (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  18. ^ Mugica, María Fernanda (15 August 2019). "La odisea de los giles: gran producción local que cruza a ladrones vengadores con el corralito" [Heroic Losers: big local production that mixes avenger thieves with the corralito]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  19. ^ a b Tobias, Scott (7 September 2019). "Film Review: 'Heroic Losers'". Variety. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  20. ^ Hertz, Barry. "Elevator Pitch: Ocean's 11 meets How to Steal a Million". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  21. ^ Ward, Sarah (8 September 2019). "'Heroic Losers': Toronto Review". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  22. ^ Monteagudo, Luciano (15 August 2019). "La odisea de los giles: el corralito y la bóveda" [Heroic Losers: the corralito and the vault]. Página/12 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 January 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  23. ^ "Anuncian a los nominados al Premio Ariel y estos son todos los afortunados" [Nominees announced for the Ariel Awards and these are the lucky ones]. Los Angeles Times (in Spanish). 26 July 2020. Archived from the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  24. ^ "Así queda el Palmarés de los Premios Forqué 2020" [Here's the line-up for the 2020 Forqué Awards]. Fotogramas (in Spanish). 11 January 2020. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  25. ^ "Premios Goya 2020: lista completa de ganadores". eldiario.es (in Spanish). 25 January 2020. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  26. ^ ""Bacurau" vence o Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro" ["Bacurau" wins the Brazilian Cinema Grand Prize]. A Gazeta (in Portuguese). 12 October 2020. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  27. ^ "Los Darín abrirán Festival de La Habana con "La Odisea de los Giles"" [The Darins will open the Havana Film Festival with "Heroic Losers"]. France24 (in Spanish). 20 November 2019. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  28. ^ "31st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Announces Festival Line-Up". Palm Springs International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  29. ^ "Premios Platino 2020: Todas las nominaciones" [2020 Platino Awards: Every nomination]. OtrosCines (in Spanish). 18 March 2020. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  30. ^ Hopewell, John; Lang, Jamie (September 28, 2019). "'Pacified' Wins Golden Shell at San Sebastian". Variety. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  31. ^ "La lista de nominados a los Premios Cóndor de Plata" [The list of nominees for the Silver Condor Awards]. Infobae (in Spanish). 31 March 2020. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  32. ^ "Todos los nominados a los Premios Sur, lo mejor del cine nacional" [All the nominees for the Premios Sur, the best in national cinema]. Infobae (in Spanish). 26 October 2020. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  33. ^ "Los sonámbulos, la película argentina candidata a los premios Oscar 2021" [The Sleepwalkers, the Argentine film candidate for the 2021 Oscars]. La Nación (in Spanish). 24 November 2020. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.

External links[edit]

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