Rolling Family (DVD)

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Filmed on location in Argentina, "Rolling Family" covers a lot of visual ground. But none of the scenery of lush or rugged countrysides can compare with Trapero's domestic scenes, especially the outdoor ones in which the women engage in such daily activities as gardening, laundry, and working around the yard. Scenes like these add as much interest and charm as the two triangles add narrative comedy-drama.

Trapero does some interesting things with his scene transitions, but at times he tends to overdo it a bit. Many scenes are introduced with an extreme close-up: a parakeet's head, a turtle's head, hands on the steering wheel, a knife chopping onions, fingers manipulating a carburetor lever, etc. Sometimes they seem right on, while other times they have a real random feel to them. But scene transitions are his thing, and for the most part that adds a distinctive (albeit heavy-handed) style to the film, and they're not just limited to visuals. As music crescendos near the end of one scene, a quick cut to the next scene begins with that close-up of the carburetor, with a rev of the engine taking over just as the music ends. It's hard not to notice things like this, but it all lends a nice texture to a film that's ultimately an engaging one that gives us a pretty good sense of the dynamics of an Argentinean family.

Video:
Surprisingly, the video quality is pretty decent--and I say "surprisingly" because so much of the film is shot in natural light. Some of the long shots are among the most grainy, but by and large there's just a slight element of grain throughout the movie, and very good color saturation. The film is presented in what appears to be a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

Audio:
Another pleasant surprise is that the audio is a robust Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, with more rear-speaker action than I'd have expected and a bright treble that's noticeable especially during musical interludes.

Extras:
Aside from the U.S. and Argentinean theatrical trailers (and those advertising previews dubbed for other studio films), the only feature is a mid-length "making of" featurette that does a pretty good job of giving you a sense of how the director and his grandmother relate to the film. There are even scrapbook photos of Trapero as a child, posing with family in front of their RV, and we learn that he's used Grandma in films three times before. In the film's spirit of cramming, there's a lot of information and insight packed into a relatively short feature.

Bottom Line:
Like "Little Miss Sunshine," this family road-trip film gives us a cross-generational brood that's driving an RV long-distance on a mission. If anything, "Rolling Family" proves that Americans don't hold the patent on familial dysfunction, but it's also a sincere personal essay about writer-director Trapero's Argentinean family.

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