Lulu

Argentine director Luis Ortega is a bold and daring auteur. From explorations of human relationships in all their complexity (Black Box) to experiments with colour, space and sound (Monobloc), his eclectic oeuvre demonstrates a continual willingness to take risks and push the boundaries of cinema and narrative. In his sixth and latest feature, Lulu, Ortega offers a fresh, singular portrayal of love and life on the streets of Buenos Aires.

Lucas (Nahuel Pérez Bizcayart) and Ludmilla — Lulu (Ailín Salas) — are young street urchins, very much in love, and very unconcerned with the limits of their world. For their mutual entertainment — he likes making Lulu laugh — Lucas engages in whimsical yet decidedly criminal activity… like impulsively robbing a pharmacy (and breaking into song and dance in the process), or peppering public monuments with shotgun blasts. For these two lovers, the city is a playground whose societal rules apply to all but them. It's a blissful depiction of the totally immersive quality of young love.

Oblivious to the working people around them, Lucas and Ludmilla embrace life on the street — as well as the inherent freedom and violence that come with that life. And they live completely in the moment. Vibrant, freewheeling, flaunting an anything-goes quality reminiscent of the films of the nouvelle vague, Ortega's Lulu is a magical portrayal of the universe that's created when two people fall in love.

DIANA SANCHEZ