Romantic Argentina Review: A slow postcard from 1932

Should you watch this today? Only if you really love old Technicolor footage or need something peaceful playing in the background while you fold laundry. 🧺 History nerds will probably enjoy seeing Buenos Aires before modern high-rises took over, but anyone expecting actual excitement or a story will hate it.

It is basically a postcard that talks. The whole thing is just over eight minutes long and feels like a slow walk through a very quiet museum.

The narrator, James A. FitzPatrick, has this incredibly formal voice. He sounds like he is reading a textbook while wearing a collar that is way too tight.

We get to see Buenos Aires back when it was apparently the most populous city in South America. The camera just sort of floats past wide streets and massive stone buildings.

There is a lot of footage of parks. Like, a lot of parks.

At one point, the camera just stares at some statues for what feels like an eternity. I kept waiting for something to actually happen, like the sudden action in The Skipper's Narrow Escape, but nope—just more marble.

The colors are that weird, early Technicolor style where the trees looks almost blue. It gives the whole city a dreamlike, slightly fake look that I actually kind of liked.

The music is just constant, generic "south of the border" tunes played on a loop. It gets loud and then soft for no real reason.

I did enjoy looking at the old cars chugging along the wide avenues. 🚗 They look like little clockwork toys from this distance.

But yeah, do not expect any real depth here. If you want a film with actual characters or drama, you should probably go watch The Desert Flower instead.

This is just a tiny, dusty window into 1932. Nothing more, nothing less.