Los jóvenes viejos

Not much happens in this film, which is about the disaffected lives of young people in Argentina in the early 60s. They have enough money, but they can't get no satisfaction if you know what I mean. The strongest statement comes from Roberto, a TV producer, who complains that his bosses won't let him do what he wants; they call him too young and rebellious. The young people in this film are all rebellious in one way or another, but mostly they are stifled by the social system. So they live somewhat dissolute and listless lives. Which makes for a somewhat boring movie, but probably it had to be that way. Overall, it's interesting.

If you did not grow up in Argentina and want to have a look on this country, you can start by viewing some noticeable films like La guerra gaucha (The Gauchos' war) (directed by Lucas Demare 1942), Las aguas bajan turbias (Waters go down muddy) (Hugo del Carril 1952), Zafra (Sugar cane harvest) (Demare 1958), Martín Fierro (Leopoldo Torre Nilsson 1968), among many others. But if you want to recognize how the urban Argentine culture in the 60's was deeply interwoven with the world culture movement of that decade, do not hesitate and see Los jóvenes viejos (The old young men).

And it is so because two main reasons. Firstly, because during the 60's, the until then remarkable Argentine cinema developed as an important movement, to which appertained directors such Rodolfo Kuhn, Manuel Antín, Fernando Ayala, and Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, among others, a movement analogous to the French Nouvelle Vague. Secondly, because many films of that period connect to and, almost to some extent, reflect the quickly changing culture scene of the time. Kuhn's Los jóvenes viejos is in that sense paradigmatic, as well as the Fellini's La dolce vita is.