Yatasto

Bebo, Ricardo and Pata live on the outskirts of the Argentine city of Córdoba, collecting cardboard for recycling in their battered horsedrawn art. Hermes Paralluelo’s thoughtful documentary charts the boys’ day-to-day adventures as they go about their business, argue with heir extended family, and share their dreams and aspirations. Many of the conversations are captured as the boys ride on the horse and art through the city’s streets, the horse’s pattering offering a musical accompaniment to the ensuing action and a visual contrast to the everse tracking shots through more affluent neighbourhoods that contrast with their sparse homes in Villa Urquiza. Ricardo cares nothing of school and dreams of being a jockey; his conscientious sister Dámaris wants to be a policewoman in the hope that she might be able to put a top to their father’s drinking; and his grandmother Chinina reinforces the importance of hard work. The dialogue is often humorous and Paralluelo’s camera – always keeping a respectful distance – engagingly observes these tenacious teenagers at work and at play.