El Clan (2015)

The true story of the Puccio Clan, a family who kidnapped and killed people in the 80s.

Director:

Pablo Trapero

Writers:

Julian Loyola, Esteban Student

Stars:

Guillermo Francella, Gastón Cocchiarale, Peter Lanzani

14 wins & 36 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Guillermo Francella	...	Arquímedes Puccio
Gastón Cocchiarale	...	Maguila Puccio
Peter Lanzani	...	Alejandro Puccio
Stefanía Koessl	...	Mónica
Aníbal Barengo	...	Basualdo
Aldo Onofri	...	Ordoñez
Rubén Estévez	...	Comisario
Miguel Ángel Lembo	...	Comodoro
Fabio Aste	...	Secretario Comodoro
Fernando Miró	...	Gordon
Juan Cruz Márquez de la Serna	...	Oveja Gonzalo
Santiago Privitera	...	Eduardo Aulet (as Juan Santiago Privitera)
Franco Masini	...	Guillermo Puccio
Antonia Bengoechea	...	Adriana Puccio
Lili Popovich	...	Epifanía Puccio

Storyline

The Puccios...? A model family! They are few, those that could match them. The father? A dignified man, (honest) storekeeper by trade, who cares about his five children, going as far as to supervise the homework of his youngest daughter. The mother? Both a dedicated teacher and a regular Martha Stewart. The children? Well-educated and promised to a bright future. Alejandro, for one, is already an admired rugby star. Except that... all this respectability is nothing but a smokescreen! The truth is that Arquimedes Puccio is also - and mainly - the tyrannical leader of a criminal gang composed of... his wife and children. Puccio's undercover activities ? Well, they consist in kidnapping rich people (preferably young), detaining them in his own house, torturing them gratuitously and doing away with them after cashing the ransom. The Puccios, a model family? Yes, but a model evil family!

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Plot Keywords:

rugby | kidnap for ransom | buenos aires argentina | 1980s | shot in the head | 

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Taglines:

La realidad supera a la ficción. [The reality surpasses fiction.]

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and a scene of sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook [UK] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Argentina Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

13 August 2015 (Argentina)

Also Known As:

Klanen

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,519, 20 March 2016, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$186,255, 10 April 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

El Deseo, Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA), Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the second film written and directed by Pablo Trapero to be featured in competition at the Biennale di Venezia, the first one being Crane World (1999), his first feature.

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Goofs

Scenes involving trains were filmed near the Urquiza line, the only one of the Buenos Aires metropolitan network using the same electric rolling stock from the 70s. However, in one scene a train passes by rightward and it can be seen it's painted mustard with a gray strip, which is the painting scheme of the current private operator and not of the former Ferrocarriles Argentinos. However, other scenes do show trains with the characteristic "colibrí" yellow-blue-red scheme.

Other than that, the rail tracks show Pandrol clips fastening them to concrete sleepers. Neither of those were used until the 2000s.

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Quotes

Arquímedes Puccio: I'm innocent.

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Connections

Referenced in Filmbarátok Podcast: Episode #1.104 (2016)

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Soundtracks

Tombstone shadow
Written by John Fogerty
Performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival

User Reviews

Very good movie

Just returned from the cinema. I liked the movie and the acting of all the characters, in particular from Guillermo Francella who already proved very well that he's not only excellent for humor but also an excellent drama actor.

The movie has a superb 80's atmosphere in every detail, from cars, clothes, phones, music (the music in this film is awesome!).

Regarding the story -which was true- the movie helped me understand much better the events and to correlate how Puccio got to that situation.

I really recommend this movie and I hope you have the opportunity to see it.