Martina Gusman Movies
Writer/director Pablo Trapero crafts this tender tale of an incarcerated woman who gives birth to a baby boy and struggles to raise her son behind bars as she comes to the bleak realization that he is the only one who matters to her anymore. It all started when a pregnant Julia woke up in her apartment flanked by the bloodied bodies of her former lovers Nahuel and Romiro. Subsequently sent to a prison for mothers and pregnant convicts, Julia railed against the system by withdrawing into her own world. Upon giving birth, Julia realizes just how difficult it could be to raise a son in prison, but each day her feelings for the boy swell stronger within her. Later, when Julia pays a visit to Romiro in the men's prison, it becomes obvious that the couple's feelings for one another are just as muddled as the events of that fateful night back in Julia's apartment. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martina Gusman, Eli Medeiros, (more)
- 2008
The Blonds and Gemini director Albertina Carri blends the banal brutality of rural living with intoxicating shades of magic realism in this study of the intensifying discord between two families as witnessed from the perspective of their disturbed young children. While geography and circumstances dictate that these rural families all pitch in to help out their neighbors, it doesn't take much for pressure to build up as relationships wither, adultery runs rampant, and growing resentment gives way to a hunger for revenge. Poldo is a strong and silent farmer who spends his days working the fields with his longtime friend and neighbor Pichón. Dissent begins to grow between the pair, however, when Poldo gets the impression that the more expressive Pichón has insulted his mute daughter Nati. Subsequently cutting off all contact with Pichón without realizing that his wife is currently carrying on an affair with him, Poldo finds his anger turning to rage after finding a collection of drawings made by his daughter depicting his wife and Pichón in a lovers embrace. But Poldo tragically misinterprets the drawings as something far more reprehensible than a casual affair, and now there's nothing that can stop him from exacting brutal revenge in Pichón without ever taking pause to consider the repercussions of his actions. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Analia Couceyro, Javier Lorenzo, (more)
- 2006
A man is forced to pick up the pieces of a shattered life in this emotional drama from Argentine filmmaker Pablo Trapero. Santiago (Guillermo Pfening) is a successful interior designer with a beautiful and loving wife, Milli (Martina Gusman); a happy and healthy young daughter, Josefina (Victoria Vescio); and a beautiful home. Santiago's charmed life comes to a crashing halt when an accident during a trip to visit relatives takes the life of Milli and Josefina, forcing the emotionally scarred husband and father to survive on his own. Santiago leaves his old life and career behind and moves to Patagonia in Southern Argentina, where he takes a job in a small airport and lives alone in a tiny shack. Santiago struggles to make it through his work days and usually devotes his evenings to drowning his memories in liquor, often joined by his friends Robert (Federico Esquerro) and Cacique (Tomas Lipan). While Santiago refuses to talk about his life before he came to Patagonia, it's obvious to everyone that he's haunted by something terrible, though Santiago is a long time in coming to terms with the demons that haunt him. Nacido y Criado (aka Born and Bred) received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillermo Pfening, Martina Gusman, (more)
Argentinean writer/director Pablo Trapero (El Bonaerense, Crane World) takes to the road in Rolling Family. Emilia (Graciana Chironi) is the matriarch of a family living in Buenos Aires. When she learns that her sister's daughter is getting married, she gathers the whole family for a trip to her hometown of Misiones, on the border of Brazil. One of her daughters, Marta (Liliana Capuro), is married to Oscar (Bernardo Forteza). Marta calls him "Fatso," and he owns the RV the family uses for the trip. They have a teenage son, Gustavo (Raul Viñona), and a little boy, Matias (Nicolás López). Their older daughter, Paola (Laura Glave), ends up joining the party at the last moment when she tearfully walks out on her druggie boyfriend, Claudio (Federico Esquerro), and shows up on the family's doorstep in tears with her infant son. Also on board is Emilia's other daughter, Claudia (Ruth Dobel), and her husband, Ernesto (Carlos Resta). They bring their teen daughter, Yanina (Marianela Pedano), who brings along a friend, Nadia (Leila Gomez). Complications arise as soon as the trip begins. In addition to the problems that might be expected (car trouble, a run-in with the police), relationships get tangled. The boy-crazy Yanina aggressively pursues her cousin, Gustavo, who is more interested in Nadia. Claudio catches up with the family on his motorcycle, and gets into an altercation with Oscar. Things get even more heated when Ernesto begins flirting with Marta, his sister-in-law. All these problems surface with the entire family jammed into a small space, putting the entire trip in jeopardy. Rolling Family was shown by the Film Society of Lincoln Center at the 2004 New York Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Graciana Chironi, Liliana Capuro, (more)
- 2004
Two bands of rival soldiers discover they have more in common than they imagined in this dark comedy. Rodrigo Rojas (Nicolas Saavedra) is a private in the Chilean Army whose outfit is called into action when a border dispute flares up with Argentina. Rojas and his fellow soldiers -- including level-headed sergeant Ferrer (Erto Pantoja), hot-tempered Orozco (Victor Montero), and luckless Almonacid (Andreas Olea) -- are marching to the front when their compass proves faulty, and the men end up in Patagonia without any idea if they're on Chilean or Argentinean soil. As the Chileans set up base, they discover a small company of Argentinean soldiers are waiting in a trench less than a football field away, but suddenly neither side is sure just what to do, especially when they realize their uniforms are all but impossible to tell apart from a distance. A stray dog appears that passes notes between the two camps, and before long a wary conviviality grows between them, though they're still not certain if they should regard one another as friends or enemies. Directed by Alex Bowen, Mi Mejor Enemigo (aka My Best Enemy) was inspired by an actual border skirmish between Chile and Argentina in 1978. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Saavedra, Erto Pantoja, (more)
