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Carancho

Ambulance chasing, Argentine style
Ricardo Darin and Martina Gusman
Directed by Pablo Trapero

Grit, tears and perspiration. Argentine–must be a Pablo Trapero movie. With his camera often trained on the working-class rung of his country, Trapero calmly deconstructs in an hour and a half or so how people put up with the “general cussedness of things.” Make a buck, sometimes quickly, break a rule or two, breathe in—and out. Some professions are better-paid than others.

In Carancho (which means ambulance-chaser in Argentine spanish slang) Trapero tells us about the lucrative black market that strives from the personal tragedies littering the streets of Buenos Aires—traffic accidents are the number one cause of death in Argentina.

Sosa (Ricardo Darín, who was recently seen in The Secret in their eyes) is an ambulance-chasing personal injury attorney with questionable ethics (redundant? Probably). Having recently lost his law license, he resorts to lurking in ERs and funeral homes in a search for potential clients. Lujan (Martina Gusman) is a young, idealistic doctor, new to the city and on a self-destruction kick. After their paths repeatedly cross at the scenes of various accidents, the two start a romance which is soon threatened by Sosa’s turbulent past. Fed up with his corrupt employers, Sosa attempts to cross them and do right by recent clients but events quickly spin out of control.

An acclaimed film auteur, Pablo Trapero is a favorite on the wide and international film festival circuit. Almost not a year goes by that he isn’t seen in Cannes. His later films El Bonaerense and Lion’s Den premiered there. His first feature, Crane World, debuted at Venice.

Ricardo Darin is one of the most beloved actors working in Latin American cinema, and has starred in over 35 feature films. He is best known to Americans for his starring role in the 2010’s Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret In Their Eyes, which also earned him a best actor trophy at the Argentinian academy awards. Co-star Martina Gusman has executive-produced numerous features including Trapero’s Carancho, Born and Bred and Lion’s Den –all of which she also starred in—for independent production company Matanza Cine she co-founded with Trapero in 2002.

Carancho is scheduled to open in New York on Friday, February 11 (at the Angelika Film Center) with a national roll out to follow.