The Delights

If you need respite from heavy cinema, step into this gentle observational portrait of high school students finding their way in life at an agrotechnical boarding school in the Argentine countryside. This striking coming-of-age film takes place against an inviting backdrop of field crops, greenhouses full of tomato plants and the somewhat dilapidated school buildings where dogs and chickens roam. The adventures of the young protagonists speak for themselves: the mystery of the missing telephone, the fortunes of a found baby pigeon, and the outcome of a contest to drag a wheelbarrow through mud. Patient teachers lend an ear during the daily struggles with friendships, quarrels, or physical ailments. Eduardo Crespo’s beautiful documentary captures the feeling of childhood fading into adolescence and young adulthood in a way few films have.