Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines ...
Pablo Trapero
Pablo Trapero (born 4 October 1971) is an Argentine film producer, editor, and director.Pablo Trapero at the
Lita Stantic
Élida Stantic (born April 7, 1942), and more commonly known and credited as Lita Stantic, is an Argentine cinema producer, screenplay writer, and director.
Stantic is one of the most important producers working in the "New Argentine Cinema," r ...
Daniel Valenzuela
Daniel Valenzuela (born May 5, 1956, in Misiones, Argentina), is a prolific film and television actor. He has also done some screenplay writing. He works in the cinema of Argentina.INCAA
The National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts ( es, Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales, INCAA; also referred to as the Argentine National Film Board) is an agency of the Government of Argentina. It promotes the Argentine ...
as well as by the Dutch
Hubert Bals Fund
Hubertus Bernardus "Huub" Bals (February 3, 1937 – July 13, 1988) was the first director and creator of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), formerly named Film International. IFFR started small in the Calypso cinema and film theat ...
.
The picture is about working class life in Argentina that's gritty (filmed in sepia, black and white). The film follows the fortunes in the life of Rulo, an unemployed suburban man, who tries to earn a living as a crane operator in Buenos Aires.
In a survey of the 100 greatest films of Argentine cinema carried out by the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken in 2000, the film reached the 9th position. In a new version of the survey organized in 2022 by the specialized magazines ''La vida útil'', ''Taipei'' and ''La tierra quema'', presented at the
Mar del Plata International Film Festival
The Mar del Plata International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata) is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature fes ...
, the film reached the 39th position.
Plot
The film tells of Rulo (
Luis Margani
Luis Margani is a film and television actor.
He works in the cinema of Argentina.Luis Margani at the ), a moderately successful musician in the 1970s.
Today he's divorced and an unemployed forty-something day-laborer living in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...
in the late 1990s. He's anxious for whatever work he can find. He lives with his son who's also musically inclined, and his mother ( Graciana Chironi).
His best friend Torres (
Daniel Valenzuela
Daniel Valenzuela (born May 5, 1956, in Misiones, Argentina), is a prolific film and television actor. He has also done some screenplay writing. He works in the cinema of Argentina.Adriana Aizemberg), who runs a sandwich shop.
He lands a job as an excavating machine operator in distant
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and ...
. The workers live in a remote farmhouse and the relationship between management and labor is difficult.
One day the workers are not fed during lunch so they refuse to work until they eat. Rulo soon discovers that making a fresh start at a late age proves to be harder than he first thought.
Daniel Valenzuela
Daniel Valenzuela (born May 5, 1956, in Misiones, Argentina), is a prolific film and television actor. He has also done some screenplay writing. He works in the cinema of Argentina.Roly Serrano
Roly is a fictional dog from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Roly is an apricot coloured Standard Poodle, who appears in the first episode of the programme on 19 February 1985 and remained in the show until 19 October 1993.
Storylines
Roly wa ...
Federico Esquerro Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick (given name), Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese and Italian language, Italian.
People with the given name Federico
Arti ...
Pablo Trapero, in neo-realist fashion, used extras and bit players when he filmed.
Distribution
The film opened in Argentina on June 17, 1999. Later it was presented at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
on September 17, 1999.
The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
, United States; the
International Film Festival Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental f ...
,
Netherlands
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; the Fribourg Film Festival, Switzerland; the
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, es, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of B ...
, Argentina; the
New Directors/New Films Festival
The New Directors/New Films Festival is an annual film festival held in New York City, and organized jointly by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Film at Lincoln Center, previously known as the Film Society o ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
; and others.
Critical reception
Film critic Stephen Holden, film critic for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', liked the look and tone of the film and wrote, " he pictureis a stylistic throwback to 1940s Italian neo-realism. The movie's grainy, sepia-toned cinematography and low-key naturalistic performances by a cast of nonprofessionals enhance its slice-of-life authenticity."
Film critic Diego Lerer, a member of FIPRESCI, wrote an extensive essay about director Pablo Trapero's cinema films. He reviewed ''Mundo grúa'' favorably and believes Trapero's film is advancing the "New Argentina Cinema Wave" and his films continues to break away from the older Argentine storytelling. He wrote, "Trapero's film dared to break even freer from the classic narrative models. Even though the film has a story, and one that advances with utter efficiency, ''Crane World'' respects the characters' internal rhythm like none of the other films by young Argentines had done so far...In Trapero's film, the scenes are developed in all their length."Lerer, Lerer . FIPRESCI, "Cinemas of the South: Pablo Trapero: Family Pictures," 2006.
Awards
Wins
*
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
: 'Cult Network Italia' Prize; Anicaflash Prize; both for Pablo Trapero; 1999.
*
Havana Film Festival
The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Latin American filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as ''Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana,'' and in English as International Festiv ...
: Special Jury Prize; Pablo Trapero; 1999.
*
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, es, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of B ...
: Best Actor, Luis Margani; Best Director and OCIC Special Award, Pablo Trapero; 1999.
* Fribourg International Film Festival: Don Quixote Award; Ecumenical Jury Award; FIPRESCI Prize, For a first feature film offering a direct and truthful look at a personal strive for a decent life and solidarity; SAA Script Award; all for Pablo Trapero; 2000.
*
Argentine Film Critics Association Awards
The Argentine Film Critics Association ( es, Asociación de Cronistas Cinematográficos de la Argentina) is an organization of Argentine-based journalists and correspondents. The association presents the ''Silver Condor Awards'' (''Premios Cóndor ...
: Silver Condor; Best First Film, Pablo Trapero; Best New Actor, Luis Margani; Best Supporting Actress, Adriana Aizemberg; 2000.
*
Rotterdam International Film Festival
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...
: FIPRESCI Prize Tiger Competition, Pablo Trapero, For the sober and coherent realism with which it portrays the main character's humanity; Tiger Award, Pablo Trapero; 2000.
* Toulouse Latin America Film Festival: Grand Prix, Pablo Trapero; 2000.
Nominations
*
Valladolid International Film Festival
The Valladolid International Film Festival, popularly known as Seminci (short for ; ), is a film festival held annually in Valladolid, Spain. First held in 1956 as ('Valladolid Religious Film Week'), the Seminci is one of the longest-standing fi ...
: Golden Spike, Pablo Trapero; 1999.
* Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema: Best Film, Pablo Trapero; 1999.
* Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best Director, Pablo Trapero; Best Film; Best Original Screenplay, Pablo Trapero; 2000.
*
Goya Awards
The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain.
The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sc ...
: Goya, Best Spanish Language Foreign Film, Pablo Trapero, Argentina; 2000.