Familia rodante
Encyclopedia
Familia rodante is a 2004 comedy drama film, written and directed by Pablo Trapero
Pablo Trapero
Pablo Trapero is an Argentine film producer, editor and director.His films are known for portraying the lives of ordinary people, and usually involving some form of social criticism to modern society, such as his movie Mundo Grúa , or the highly-acclaimed El...

, and produced by various countries, including Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. The film's executive producers were Hugo Castro Fau and Martina Gusman, and it was produced by Pablo Trapero, Robert Bevan, and Donald Ranvaud
Donald Ranvaud
Donald Ranvaud is a British film producer and film journalist.He has had producing roles on a number of Oscar-nominated films including The Constant Gardener , City of God , Central Station and Farewell My Concubine...

.

The picture is about a large Argentine family that takes a northern 1000 plus kilometer road trip in an old cramped motor-home to attend a wedding. The family takes part in many adventures along their way to the wedding.

Plot

The comedy-drama tells the story of Emilia (Graciana Chironi
Graciana Chironi
Graciana Abraciano de Chironi is a film actor.Chironi is the grandmother of well-known Argentine director Pablo Trapero.She works in the cinema of Argentina.-Filmography:* Negocios * Mundo grúa aka Crane World...

) an 84 year-old grandmother who lives in the Buenos Aires suburbs and receives a phone call inviting her to be the matron of honor at her niece's wedding in Misiones
Misiones Province
Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamiсa region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.- History :The province was...

, the village of her birth.

The Province of Misiones, where the village is located, is over 1000 kilometers away, on the Brazilian border in the farthest north-east part of Argentina.

Nevertheless, the large family decides to embark on a weekend long trip to take their grandmother to the wedding in a beat-up motor-home.

While the members have feuds, intrigues and love affairs on the journey, they, mostly, have to accept each others quirks and faults, and give each other a lot of space along the way as they encounter a few problems on their long road-trip.

The film ends with Emilia in an introspective moment. She drinks her mate
Mate (beverage)
Mate , also known as chimarrão or cimarrón, is a traditional South American infused drink, particularly in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, southern states of Brazil, south of Chile, the Bolivian Chaco, and to some extent, Syria and Lebanon...

 and appears to contemplate her family and life.

Background

Casting

Pablo Trapero, in neo-realist
Neorealism (art)
In art, neorealism was established by the ex-Camden Town Group painters Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman at the beginning of World War I. They set out to explore the spirit of their age through the shapes and colours of daily life...

 fashion, used non-actors when he filmed.

The grandmother in the film (Graciana Chironi
Graciana Chironi
Graciana Abraciano de Chironi is a film actor.Chironi is the grandmother of well-known Argentine director Pablo Trapero.She works in the cinema of Argentina.-Filmography:* Negocios * Mundo grúa aka Crane World...

) is Trapero's actual grandmother. In fact, she's present in all of Trapero's films. She's seen by the director as the story's conscience.

Filming locations

The picture was filmed in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 and Yapeyú, Corrientes
Yapeyú, Corrientes
Yapeyú is a town in the province of Corrientes, Argentina, in the San Martín Department. It has about 2,000 inhabitants as per the , and it is known throughout the country because it was the birthplace of General José de San Martín , hero of the War of Independence.-Etymology:The word Yapeyú comes...

; Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

.

Cast

  • Graciana Chironi
    Graciana Chironi
    Graciana Abraciano de Chironi is a film actor.Chironi is the grandmother of well-known Argentine director Pablo Trapero.She works in the cinema of Argentina.-Filmography:* Negocios * Mundo grúa aka Crane World...

     as Emilia, the grandmother and matriarch of the family.
  • Bernardo Forteza as Oscar, the hot-head and overweight uncle married to Marta. He's in charge of the driving.
  • Liliana Capurro as Marta, married to Oscar and spurns the advances made by Ernesto.
  • Ruth Dobel as Claudia, a very emotional woman and married to Ernesto.
  • Carlos Resta as Ernesto, who, although married, wants to revive a sexual relationship with Marta, his long ago girlfriend.
  • Raul Viñona as Gustavo, the kissing cousin of Yanina. He also lusts after her girlfriend Nadia.
  • Marianela Pedano as Yanina, is a teenager in love with her cousin Gustavo and later hooks-up with a member of the wedding.
  • Leila Gomez as Nadia, the girlfriend of Yanina. She lusts after Gustavo.
  • Laura Glave as Paola, a young mother and in love with Claudio.
  • Nicolás López as Matias, young boy about 8 or 9 years old and along for the ride.
  • Federico Esquerro as Claudio, is irresponsible and in love with himself according to the film's trailer in English.

Distribution

The film was first presented at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

 on September 6, 2004. Later in the month it made its North American debut at the Toronto Film Festival on September 16, 2004.

It screened at various film festivals, including: the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

; the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...

, USA; the Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....

, USA; the Nantes Festival, France; the Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...

, USA; and others.

Release dates of production companies

  • Argentina: September 30, 2004.
  • Brazil: December 9, 2005.
  • France: December 1, 2004.
  • Germany: February 23, 2006.
  • Spain: March 4, 2005.
  • United Kingdom: November 18, 2005.

Critical reception

Stephen Holden, film critic for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, liked the film and the direction of Pablo Trapero, and wrote, "Don't fret if you find it frustrating to unscramble the blood ties or follow the fragmented domestic dramas that jostle one another in Pablo Trapero's bighearted ensemble comedy...Without becoming intimate with any one person, you come to know them collectively."

Time Out film reviews wrote, "[I]t becomes clear we’ve seen a film of subtlety and wisdom, a shaggy-dog story about learning to deal with disappointment, compromise, confusion and loss: learning, in short, to survive life in all its painful truth and beauty."

Film critic Diego Lerer, a member of FIPRESCI
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...

, wrote an extensive essay on Pablo Trapero's cinema works. He said of the film, "The 'families' in Rolling Family are already morally 'corrupted.' It is never clearly spoken, but one of the reasons is obvious: they live in the capital. They have urbanised, diversified and standardised themselves; they are no longer the safeguard against problems, but are now a part of them, and perhaps among the most serious ones...the characters are presented in a much crueler and hostile way, and the filmmaker does not just look at 'the others' with a dark gaze, but also at 'us'."

Critic Neil Young wrote, "Familia rodante nimbly dramatises the clash between old ways and new, making this a socially-conscious road movie with genuine texture and warmth...[the] [s]tar of the show is Chironi, very much front-and-centre as Emilia - the actress is actually Trapero's own grandmother, and as well as making some subtle points about family, maturity and the state of Argentina, it also works very well as a heartfelt, elaborately autobiographical tribute/farewell to a beloved relative."

Awards

Wins
  • Gijón International Film Festival
    Gijón International Film Festival
    Gijón International Film Festival was created in 1963. It was born as an initiative of the local authority and it was sponsored mainly by Gijón City Council and the then Caja de Ahorros de Asturias ; both institutions are still the main organisers of the festival, along with funding from the...

    , Spain: Best Actress, Graciana Chironi; Best Director, Pablo Trapero; 2004.
  • Guadalajara Mexican Film Festival: FIPRESCI
    FIPRESCI
    The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...

     Prize, Pablo Trapero; 2005.
  • Lima Latin American Film Festival, Peru
    Peru
    Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

    : Best Actress, Liliana Capurro; 2005.


Nominations
  • Gijón International Film Festival: Grand Prix Asturias, Best Feature, Pablo Trapero; 2004.
  • Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best New Actress, Graciana Chironi; 2005.

External links

  • Familia rodante at the cinenacional.com
    Cinenacional.com
    Cinenacional.com is a web portal and web-based database about Argentine cinema.The site provides a vast array of information, including: films, television programs, directors, actors, cinematographers, film editors, production designers, and other production professions in Argentina...

     
  • Familia rodante film review at La Nación by Diego Battle
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