This review is for a film originally viewed at the 22nd Annual Tallgrass Film Festival. WD;ED will update when the film becomes available either in theatres or on VOD.
There’s a magic to your early teen years that can never quite be replicated. Sometimes it’s your day-to-day, your friends and little adventures. Other times it’s something strange, unique to you and only yours. Los Tonos Mayores is a fond memory of this unnamed emotion that exists only in the minds of youth in the midst of change.
Ingrid Pokropek’s debut is a mood piece, more interested in this raw emotion’s power than the concrete answers life often denies us. Running up and down the streets of Buenos Aires, young heroine Ana (Sofía Clausen) grows through the harrowing young person’s journey that is change. Friendships, family, and even bodies experience the tumultuous transitions that begin to lead out of childhood and yet can’t quite reach the adult experience.
Ana’s special thing is the plate in her arm. There since she was young, it’s suddenly begun to send musical pulses through her arm. Thankfully it’s the winter holidays and her best friend, Lepa (Lina Ziccarello), is helping her transpose the tones into music. Together, the two spend time wiling away the hours working on “The Hearbeat Song,” talking about boys, and telling fortunes. The mystery of Ana’s arm-tones is fun, but when Lepa starts to become more interested in boys Ana pulls away and begins to search for deeper meaning in the sounds. Following the mystery further and further from the safety of her home, she deepens her understanding of herself as she dives down the rabbit hole.
Those looking for an easy answer to a mystery may find themselves confounded at Los Tonos Mayores, a film more interested in who Ana is as a person than anything more specific. The beauty of this experience lies in the film’s ability to reach in and touch your inner teen, reminding you of an era where everything was the most important thing in the world. The upheaval of life over seemingly minor events is a crux of youth, and Clausen delivers an incredibly grounded and touching portrayal of that emotional maelstrom.
She’s not alone. Ziccarello is wonderful as Lena, a friend ready to grown in a new direction that’s a bit irritated with her friend despite the deep-seated love between them. Ana’s father, Javier (Pablo Seijo), is an excellent befuddled single father. Ana can also finds an ally in Pablo (Santiago Ferreiro), a young man that enjoys codes and puzzles who helps her start to work through the pulsating sounds in her arm. It’s a motley crew, built of individuals whose only common thread is Ana, but these characters are bursting with internal life that rounds out the film and elevates it from something fun to something great.
Those inner lives are a huge part of what makes Los Tonos Mayores work. All three major supporting characters are kept separated and they have their own things going on. Sure, Ana’s mystery is something they all come into contact with, but they can’t only focus on that because they have their own things going on. Javier loves his daughter and does all he can to help her, but the man is also prepping to launch an art show and juggling a romance with a former lover. Lepa loves Ana, but when she decides to spend their time out kissing a boy while Ana just sits there a wedge is driven between them. Even Pablo, who most directly engages in the central mystery, is serving in the military and seemingly has a romance of his own. These supporting characters external lives are part of the complication for Ana, as she grows increasingly isolated in her emotional journey. A harsh look at growing out of childhood, perhaps, but a very real one.
So much of this film is built on its performances but it’s technical marvels are a delight! The sound design team of Javier Fernández Jensen and Gabriel Real make for something special, between the sounds of Buenos Aires to the tones coming from Ana’s arm. The mix of reality and the fantastical makes for a magical experience. From running through the streets to blinking, pulsating dream sequences, Los Tonos Mayores is utterly captivating.
This is one of the best films of 2024. I don’t say that lightly, but Ingrid Pokropek’s debut feature truly touched my heart. It’s a pure, elating watch that I can’t wait for you all to see.
WRITE DRUNK; EDIT DRUNK 