Rolling Family

This Argentinian film follows a large family from Buenos Aires as they make the thousand kilometre journey to a remote village in Misiones Province. They are making the journey because eighty four year old Emelia has been invited to be maid of honour at her niece's wedding. Four generations of the family pack into a camper van for the journey. Along the way various things occur that effect the family. Some of these are comic, others lead to tension and there is even romance... between two teenaged cousins.

I found this film to be a real delight; it might not be full of action or hilarious moments but the characters feel real... not in the common sense of film/TV characters being described as 'real' just because their lives are miserable but because they are a fairly ordinary family. The journey in the cramped van provides some tensions but nothing excessive. The way director Pablo Trapero films the characters in the van adds a sense of claustrophobia but this is lightened by the outside shots of the various characters during the occasional forced stop. The cast, many not regular actors, do an impressive job. Overall I'd say this won't be for everybody but if you are looking for a relatively low-key film with humour, pathos and 'real' characters then I'd certainly recommend it.

These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.

It had the potential to be a good film but was let down on a few technical aspects.

1. He shouldn't have used too many hand held shots.

2. Should have used film stock rather than electronic. Poor colour separation.

3. Far, far too many close up shots. If you are going to make a 'road film' then its a good idea to see the characters within a location. There were just not enough. Okay, one could argue that he tried to convey a feeling of claustrophobia but we don't need the entire film to tell us it's claustrophobic inside a camper. Surely if it was mad hot they would all want to be outside on every opportunity?

4. The kissing young couple. Sorry but very basic and primitive. It would have been better for them to be seen sneaking off into the woods then we could use our own imagination.

5. The dialogue with non members of the family with other people were few are far between. The only worthwhile example I can recall was the police roadblock and the man with a spare gasket.

There are too many 'road movies' and to stand out from the rest you really do need to be original - this wasn't.

And lastly, I thought it could have been improved with a large injection of humour or real pathos.

This is a drama more so than a comedy. The direction was very hands off, and the acting wasn't the best. The pacing was perfect, and the locations great. In this movie, a great grand mother is honored with an invitation to a wedding as the maid of honor. Despite the distance involved (crossing the length of Argentina), and the probable hardships they'll endure, she assembles the clan (an extended family of about a dozen people) and insists that everyone accompany her on this voyage. While I don't understand the Argentinean family ethic, the film assumes that this group acquiesces to their matrons desires. They pile into the only vehicle large enough to accompany the entire group (a dilapidated 1956 Chevy Viking camper), and set out on a journey. This movie is more about family relationships, than it is about the physical places they travel through. Crammed into a confining space, the group is forced to confront family issues in a positively charged atmosphere. Unfortunately the size of the cast hampers a thorough examination of these complex relationships. I liked the fact that the cast didn't consist of polished egos and competing actors. The dialog was sparse, but well drafted, and it worked splendidly with the pacing.

As it happens with any road movie, road, cars, and landscape are excuses for developing a story; the road chosen could not have been better, landscapes are superb, and the caravan they travel with is a gem on its own!

Each of the 12 people on this caravan had a story to tell and Trapero managed to thread them together very well. True, acting could have been a bit better, but I took it as part of the essence of this movie, adding for a natural freshness of the plot.

Human relationships and family business are taken to the core of this family during the trip with a good balance of drama and comedy. The movie is flooded with touches of Argentinian customs along the movie that also come as a bonus.

Highly recommended movie!

Pablo Trapero, one of the most recognized directors of the new Argentine cinema, has done three movies: "Mundo Grúa", which I haven't seen and seems to be the best; "El Bonaerense", a tale about a man who becomes a cop; and "Familia Rodante", which is not more than what it proposes.

His second film was characterized by focusing thoroughly in Buenos Aires' reality and the reality of the persons that try to survive there. This is repeated in "Familia Rodante", but with a family, that travels. It's a trip to Misiones, well-known Argentine province; and it is a trip because of a wedding. I don't want to think about the fact of making a two-day trip to come back after some hours and travel for two more days...And there are many members.

With Grandma Emilia (Graciana Chironi), her daughters Marta (Liliana Capurro) and Claudia (Ruth Dobel) travel with their husbands Oscar (Bernardo Forteza) and Ernesto (Carlos Resta), plus the kids of the first ones; Matías (Nicolás López), Gustavo (Raúl Viñona) and Sol (Sol Ocampo), and the daughter of the second ones; Yanina (Marianela Pedano) with her friend Nadia (Leila Gomez). Don't be fooled by the actors' names, just like Carlos Sorin, another master of the new cinema, Pablo Trapero uses non professional actors in his movies, therefore just some of them have done things before, and others, like Graciana Chironi (directly related with the director), have only acted in Trapero's films.

Trapero's magic lies in his camera, in how he cares for his story. A story, in this case, full of situations that I wouldn't like to tell because they occupy the whole movie. And they are wonderful like life itself; and messed up and crazy and even incredible sometimes.

Thinking about life as watching the film, it came to me: We fall in love like the characters do because we feel the same, we laugh out loud because we have experienced the same situations they experienced, or we have seen it. We fight like they do: something more realistic is impossible.

I even believe that Trapero directs so close to reality that we could be watching a documentary.