The Clouds (Las Nubes), directed by Eduardo Pinto, is a gritty Argentine thriller that follows a morally complex criminal henchman trying to survive in the underworld. With a screenplay by Pinto, Gabriel Macias, Diego Ramos Otero, and Natalia Torres, the film centers on a man forced to reconcile his past.
Pablo (Guillermo Zapata) is a violent man with a sordid past, shaped by a tragic accident in his youth when he accidentally killed his brother. Years later, he is the leader of a criminal gang called “The Devils,” which includes Diego (Diego Cremonesi), Tamara (Andrea Rincón), and Lucas (Luciano Cáceres), and orchestrates professional heists on rural farming towns. After a chaotic robbery leaves one of their own, Lucas, seriously wounded and dumped at a hospital, the authorities begin to close in. The lead detectives, Paula (María Zubiri) and Rosales (Darío Levy), suspect the notorious Devils crew is behind the carnage.
Under pressure from his boss, Turco (Pablo Pinto), to clean up the gang’s sloppy execution, Pablo is offered another job with a stern no-failure warning. The Devils are in and out with no fatalities. With Lucas out, Diego recruits his explosives-savvy nephew Dani (Matías Desiderio) to replace him. Dani’s got problems of his own as he owes a lot of money to the incarcerated crime boss Rivera (Patricio Contreras), who is set up in a furnished prison cell along with a cell phone. As the group plans to target a cash-rich farm operation, tensions rise over trust, loyalty, and the uneven distribution of the stolen money.
Despite Pablo’s efforts to maintain order and avoid bloodshed, things spiral out of control at the hands of the unpredictable Dani. The operation doesn’t go as cleanly as they hoped, and betrayals within the group, particularly with Diego, begin to surface. Haunted by visions of his past and torn between loyalty and redemption, Pablo must reckon with the violent life he chose, and his attempts at justice turn into an unnecessarily high body count.
Pablo and his crew plan their next rural heist in The Clouds (Las Nubes), a gritty Argentine thriller directed by Eduardo Pinto
“The lead detectives, Paula and Rosales, suspect the notorious Devils crew is behind the carnage.”
The Clouds is not that far off from any U.S. indie thriller. In this case, Eduardo Pinto puts the focus on Guillermo Zapata as Pablo. He is the conflicted one, and his destiny is firmly in the hands of karma. From the fateful events of his childhood to all the decisions that led him down the path of crime, karma has been tracking all these good and bad deeds, which ultimately lead to a final reckoning.
Consider that the story is about Pablo; writer/director Pinto interweaves Pablo’s story with at least a half-dozen subplots, all of which seemingly add to Pablo’s karmic bank account—including Tamara paying a visit to Lucas, who is under police surveillance. Then, Dani goes missing after attempting to rape the housekeeper. Lastly, a police officer is killed, which emboldens the police force to take these thieves down.
There are also numerous other characters spotlighted in The Clouds, such as investigators Paula and Rosales. At times, you forget they’re even part of the movie, as they disappear for long stretches—only to vanish completely. There’s a balance issue when the film builds sympathy for a character, only to drop them from the narrative abruptly.
In the end, The Clouds offers a distinctly Argentinian take on themes of justice, redemption, and fate. While some pacing issues and numerous subplots hinder the narrative flow, the film succeeds in crafting a deeply flawed yet sympathetic lead character. Eduardo Pinto delivers a character-driven tale where karma, loyalty, and consequence collide with explosive results.
For more information, visit The Clouds (Las Nubes) official website.
"…offers a distinctly Argentinian take on themes of justice, redemption, and fate."
