Film Notes: The Clan (2015) directed by Pablo Trapero

ARG – ESP / 108 minutes / color / Kramer & Sigman, Matanza Cine, El Deseo / Dir: Pablo Trapero Pro: Hugo Sigman, Matias Mosteirin, Agustin Almodovar, Pedro Almodovar, Esther Garcia, Pablo Trapero Scr: Julián Loyola, Esteban Student, Pablo Trapero Cine: Julian Apezteguia Film Editor: Alejandro Carrillo Penovi, Pablo Trapero Mus: Sebastián Escofet Cast: Guillermo Francella, Peter Lanzani, Lili Popovich, Gaston Cocchiarale, Giselle Motta, Franco Masini, Antonia Bengoechea, Stefania Koessl Release Date: 13 August 2015 (Argentina) 13 November 2015 (Spain) Original title: El Clan

The Clan (El Clan) is a 2015 Argentine crime film directed by Pablo Trapero. It was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival where director Pablo Trapero won the Silver Lion. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards. (Source: Wikipedia)

Synopsis: The disappeared — los desaparecidos — are words that carry special resonance in Argentina. Long associated with the crimes of the military junta of the 1970s, the term takes on a different, but no less chilling, meaning in the hands of filmmaker Pablo Trapero. Based on a true story that rocked Argentina, The Clan tells the almost unbelievable tale of the Clan Puccio, a seemingly normal middle-class family who kidnapped wealthy people off the street, held the victims for ransom, and, once paid, killed them. On the surface the Puccios look like most other families. Steely-eyed patriarch Arquimedes (Guillermo Francella) presides over a household where his wife, sons, and daughters gather for evening meals and discuss their days. Alejandro (Peter Lanzani), the eldest son, is a famed rugby player on Argentina’s national team, and the film turns on his relationship with his father. Arquimedes is coolly efficient, his “hits” meticulously planned, but he relies above all on his son’s complicity. Alex shares in the ransom money; his mother and other siblings seem blissfully unaware, or they choose to ignore what is happening right under their noses. Trapero details the ordinariness of the Puccios’ domestic life while not sparing us the brutality of the kidnappings. But, as the times change, Arquimedes, a product of the dictatorship that led to the disappearances of political enemies, finds that those who once protected him can no longer do so. Family tensions increase, Alex begins to question things, and a long-lost son returns from Australia. (Source: TIFF)

Pablo Trapero was born in San Justo, Argentina, and studied filmmaking at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires. He wrote, directed, and edited the shorts Mocoso Malcriado (93) and Negocios(95). Many of his features have played the Festival, including his debut, Crane World (99), El Bonaerense (02), Rolling Family (04), Born and Bred (06), Lion’s Den (08), Carancho (10), White Elephant (12), and The Clan (15). (Source: TIFF)

Begoña and I went to see El Clan a couple of weeks ago. Maybe due to my expectations, it has somewhat disappointed me. In a nutshell, it’s an overrated film. Besides I must admit that I got bored. Apparently, the film follows truthfully the events narrated, but it is too slow on the development of the facts which, undoubtedly, are well known by the Argentine audience, but unfortunately it has nothing new to offer. The cinematographic narrative is highly fragmented and this, in my view, does not help much to follow the storyline to those, like me, are not familiar with the events. The film is sustained thanks to the excellent performance of  Guillermo Francella in the role of Arquimedes Puccio and Peter Lanzani as his son Alejandro. But, please, do take my view with a pinch of salt, I’m in a minority, El Clan has received many favourable reviews in the Internet and has won several awards in film festivals.

The Clan review at The Hollywood Reporter

Pablo Trapero wins La Mostra’s Best Director for El clan

“The Clan (2015 film)” by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia