Carancho Dir. Pablo Trapero

[Srand Releasing; 2011]

Styles: drama
Others: Lion’s Den, Crash, Head On

Interestingly billed as a noir-thriller, Argentinian director Pablo Trapero’s latest film Carancho feels more like a melodrama with action nipping at its heels. The film opens with statistics: apparently, more than 8,000 people die each year in road accidents in Argentina. From there, Trapero dives right into the dark nighttime world of medic Lujan (his longtime collaborator and co-producer Martina Gusman) and ambulance-chasing lawyer Sosa (Ricardo Darin). He is the vulture, or carancho, who gives the film its name, and they meet at an accident site where both are, in their own way, attending to the victims. Despite his odious career, Lujan and Sosa begin a strange relationship, driven as much by deep need and exhaustion as by passion. The actors are tender with one another, but the moments of pleasure they are able to snatch from their lives are fleeting. They become each other’s respite from grinding reality — Lujan’s grueling work schedule, and the thuggish, cruel ‘foundation’ for which Sosa is under obligation to work. The film’s plot spirals chaotically around Sosa’s attempt to regain his license and go straight, but the essential story is the lovers’ struggle to be together.

Gusman also starred in Trapero’s lauded Lion’s Den as a young woman embroiled in her ex-boyfriend’s murder and sentenced to prison. I am impressed by her willingness to dive into such unappealing roles — in both films, she is beaten and bloodied in violent conflicts and oppressed by the authoritarian forces above her. Her face sets into the hardened mask of the beleaguered woman, but what gives her characters life is seeing the emotions rippling below the surface, especially in her expressive eyes. Ricardo Darin was riveting in the Oscar-winning The Secret In Their Eyes, and though his carancho is far less honorable and nuanced, he remains appealing. If they make sense together, it’s because Lujan is not as virtuous as she seems — she is physically and emotionally on the brink of collapse, and props herself up with injections of speed. Both mutedly react to the others’ indiscretions — in this world, moral judgment is a useless luxury.

Carancho has a strong first act, allowing the relationship between Lujan and Sosa to build slowly and with charm. But as Sosa begins to push back against his employers, it sets off a confusing reaction of events that don’t seem motivated. There are threats, beatings, and of course more car accidents, but the story soon begins to unravel. Is Trapero telling a love story or dissecting a social problem? The actors are pushed in both directions, with mixed results, and the film closes with an uneven and melodramatic flourish. Trapero does best in scenes where he gets at the dark chaos of institutions: the prison riot in Lion’s Den or the gang fight in the hospital in Carancho come to mind. Both scenes are kinetic and intense, yet still manage to be humorous. But mostly, these are dank, shadowed worlds, where tired janitors push mops through unexplained puddles of blood. Carancho has a wan, yellow cast, from the gloomy lighting to the pallor of its lead actors, which matches the film’s fatalistic tone. This is paralleled by the rumble and roar of traffic that constantly accompanies Lujan and Sosa. The point is clear: they too are victims, caught in an escalating series of collisions.

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