# Carancho
**Carancho** is a 2010 Argentine crime thriller directed by Pablo Trapero, starring [Ricardo Darín](https://www.edgepedia.org/ricardo-darin) as Sosa, a disgraced lawyer who earns a living signing up victims of traffic accidents for a corrupt organization that profits from insurance payouts, and Martina Gusmán as Luján, an exhausted emergency-room doctor with whom he begins a relationship. The film was a four-country co-production between Argentina, Chile, France, and South Korea, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and was Argentina's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the [83rd Academy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/83rd-academy-awards).[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/es/title/tt1542852/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Pablo Trapero; screenplay by Alejandro Fadel, Martín Mauregui, Santiago Mitre, and Trapero[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/) |
| Cast | Ricardo Darín (Sosa), Martina Gusmán (Luján), Carlos Weber (El Perro), José Luis Arias (Casal), Fabio Ronzano (Pico)[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/) • [3](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2010/sections_and_films/zabaltegi_pearls/7/580144/in) |
| Production | Argentina, Chile, France, South Korea; shot on 35 mm in October and November 2008 in Buenos Aires and La Matanza[4](https://www.recam.org/_files/documents/catalogo_2010.pdf) • [5](https://golem.es/carancho/Carancho.pdf) |
| Festival and release | Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2010; Argentine premiere 6 May 2010[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/) • [6](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/carancho) |
| Awards | Silver Condor for Best Film, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Sound (2011); Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature, Philadelphia Film Festival 2010[7](https://www.imdb.com/es-es/title/tt1542852/awards/) |
| Reception | 88% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (49 reviews); Metascore 66 from 15 critics[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/carancho) • [9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/carancho/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and title
The film is set in Buenos Aires, where more than eight thousand people die in road accidents every year, an industry built on insurance compensation and legal loopholes growing behind each tragedy.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/) Sosa, a lawyer who has lost his license, works for an illegal outfit that stages automobile accidents to defraud insurers, touring the emergency rooms of public hospitals, police stations, and suburban funeral homes in search of potential clients.[10](https://www.patagonik.com.ar/home-1-1-2-3-1) • [6](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/carancho) One night at the scene of an accident he meets Luján, a young doctor newly arrived in the city who is worn down by endless shifts and uses drugs to keep going; she is trying to save an injured man's life while he is trying to turn the man into a client.[6](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/carancho) • [1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/) Their relationship pushes Sosa to look for a way out of the criminal world he is trapped in, but his turbulent past returns unexpectedly.[6](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/carancho) • [10](https://www.patagonik.com.ar/home-1-1-2-3-1)
The title names the vultures that live on the Argentine pampas, and by extension the lawyers who feed on accident victims; a recent Argentine law against such legal practices was referred to as the "anti-carancho law".[11](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/carancho)
## Production
Trapero wrote the screenplay with Alejandro Fadel, Martín Mauregui, and Santiago Mitre, produced through his company Matanza Cine with Patagonik (Argentina), Finecut (South Korea), Ad Vitam (France), and L90 Producciones (Chile).[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/) • [4](https://www.recam.org/_files/documents/catalogo_2010.pdf) Gusmán, Trapero's wife and frequent collaborator, also served as executive producer.[4](https://www.recam.org/_files/documents/catalogo_2010.pdf) It was his first film with Darín, whom he offered the role before Darín began work on Juan José Campanella's *The Secret in Their Eyes*.[12](https://www.sensacine.com/noticias/cine/noticia-18500530/)
**Preparation.** For her role, Gusmán spent about six months going one day a week to a local hospital for full 24-hour shifts.[13](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-feb-13-la-ca-indie-focus-20110213-story.html) Trapero described the setting as a love story in a war zone, with people loving each other on opposite sides of a reality pushing them apart.[13](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-feb-13-la-ca-indie-focus-20110213-story.html)
The crew included cinematographer Julián Apezteguía, editors Ezequiel Borovinsky and Trapero, sound designer Federico Esquerro, and production designer Mercedes Alfonsín; the music is credited to Lim Giong.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/) • [10](https://www.patagonik.com.ar/home-1-1-2-3-1)
## Release and box office
Reported running times differ by source: 105 minutes in the Argentine national film database, 107 minutes in the Cannes and [Rotterdam](https://www.edgepedia.org/rotterdam) festival records, and 109 minutes in the Spanish ICAA catalog.[6](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/carancho) • [1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/) • [14](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=211710) The film opened in Argentina on 6 May 2010 and in Spain on 24 September 2010, where it earned €660,119.18 from 105,211 spectators.[6](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/carancho) • [15](https://www.ecartelera.com/peliculas/carancho/) • [14](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=211710) Strand Releasing distributed it in North America from 11 February 2011, with a US gross of $85.4 thousand.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/carancho) A scholarly account records it as the second-most viewed nationally produced film in Argentina in 2010.[16](https://cora.ucc.ie/bitstreams/22e30948-fa10-4fd8-b6bd-54140ab5d2df/download)
## Reception and awards
At Cannes the film was nominated for the Un Certain Regard Award.[7](https://www.imdb.com/es-es/title/tt1542852/awards/) The Argentine Film Critics Association gave it four Silver Condor awards in 2011, for Best Film, Best Director (Trapero), Best Editing (Borovinsky and Trapero), and Best Sound (Esquerro), with Darín nominated for Best Actor; the film received 11 Premios Sur nominations including Best Film and Best Director.[7](https://www.imdb.com/es-es/title/tt1542852/awards/) • [17](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/movie-awards.php?movie-id=918617) It won Best Narrative Feature at the Philadelphia Film Festival.[7](https://www.imdb.com/es-es/title/tt1542852/awards/)
Critics placed it in a noir tradition. Screen's review noted its cinemascope look and feel of classic postwar film noir, and the Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus calls it a fast-paced noirish thriller.[18](https://www.screendaily.com/carancho/5014106.article) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/carancho) Spanish-language critics read it as social critique as well as genre cinema: [Cahiers du Cinéma](https://www.edgepedia.org/cahiers-du-cinema)'s Eulàlia Iglesias wrote that Trapero exposes corruption networks that had barely received cinematic attention, while Quim Casas described it as a mix of melodrama and thriller around the figure of the carancho.[19](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-180376/criticas-prensa/) • [20](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-180376/sensacine/) The Argentine Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences selected it as the country's official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards.[2](https://www.imdb.com/es/title/tt1542852/)
## References
1. [Carancho, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/carancho/)
2. [Carancho (2010), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/es/title/tt1542852/)
3. [Carancho, San Sebastián Film Festival 2010, Zabaltegi-Pearls](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2010/sections_and_films/zabaltegi_pearls/7/580144/in)
4. [RECAM 2010 catalog entry for Carancho](https://www.recam.org/_files/documents/catalogo_2010.pdf)
5. [Carancho pressbook, Golem Distribución](https://golem.es/carancho/Carancho.pdf)
6. [Carancho (2009), cinenacional.com](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/carancho)
7. [Carancho (2010) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/es-es/title/tt1542852/awards/)
8. [Carancho, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/carancho)
9. [Carancho Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/carancho/)
10. [Carancho (2010), Patagonik](https://www.patagonik.com.ar/home-1-1-2-3-1)
11. [Carancho, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2011](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/carancho)
12. [Entrevista a Pablo Trapero, SensaCine](https://www.sensacine.com/noticias/cine/noticia-18500530/)
13. [Indie Focus: Love amid a tense reality in 'Carancho', Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-feb-13-la-ca-indie-focus-20110213-story.html)
14. [Datos de Pelicula ICAA, expediente 211710](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=211710)
15. [Carancho (2010), eCartelera](https://www.ecartelera.com/peliculas/carancho/)
16. [No place like home: trauma and the moral subject in Carancho, University College Cork](https://cora.ucc.ie/bitstreams/22e30948-fa10-4fd8-b6bd-54140ab5d2df/download)
17. [Todos los premios y nominaciones de Carancho, FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/movie-awards.php?movie-id=918617)
18. [Carancho review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/carancho/5014106.article)
19. [Críticas de prensa para Carancho, SensaCine](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-180376/criticas-prensa/)
20. [Carancho, la crítica de SensaCine por Quim Casas](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-180376/sensacine/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2010–2014 films › Titles symbols to L*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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