Carancho

Carancho is a 2010 crime drama film directed by Pablo Trapero and starring Ricardo Darín and Martina Gusmán. A co-production between Argentina, Chile, Spain, France and South Korea, the film was entered into the Un Certain Regard section of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.

Plot synopsis

Sosa is a lawyer recently expelled from the bar association who works as an ambulance chaser —known as "carancho" in Argentina—, touring the emergency departments of the public hospitals and the police stations in search of potential clients for his barely-legal law firm. One night at a hospital he meets Luján, a young woman and doctor recently arrived from the provinces who is trying to get an internship as a surgeon. The two start a romantic relationship that is threatened when Sosa breaks his association with his corrupt boss. When Sosa is about to get back his attorney registration (and while making amends for his bad deeds) he and Luján are attacked by former partners of the law firm, initiating an escalation of violence.

Cast

Ricardo Darín as Héctor Sosa
Martina Gusmán as Luján Olivera
Carlos Weber as El Perro
José Luis Arias as Casal
Fabio Ronzano as Pico
Loren Acuña as Mariana
Gabriel Almirón as Muñoz
José Manuel Espeche as Garrido

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 46 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".