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Trailer Watch: Laura Citarella’s Trenque Lauquen
A favorite on the festival circuit last year, the U.S. trailer arrives for Argentine filmmaker Laura Citarella’s Trenque Lauquen, which took six years to make. Co-written by Citarella and Laura Paredes (who stars), the film totals 262 minutes and follows a woman also named Laura who has disappeared in the titular town (which the filmmaker has familial roots in). This is the second film of Citarella’s that revolves around the Laura character, the first being 2011’s Ostende.
Notably, Trenque Lauquen was one of Film Comment’s Best Undistributed Films of 2022, and will now get a North American theatrical release courtesy of Cinema Guild.
A more meaty official synopsis reads:
Told over the course of twelve chapters, and screening in two parts, Trenque Lauquen tells the story of Laura, a biologist cataloging plant species in the small town of Trenque Lauquen, Argentina, who has gone missing. Her boyfriend and a driver she’s worked with team up to track her down. The two men share stories and tour the doldrums of the Las Pampas area. As they get to know one another, they begin to unravel the mystery behind Laura’s disappearance, discoveries that lead to other discoveries, and even more questions.
The deeper we go into the rabbit hole, the more the film begins to unfold like a large map—sprouting stories within stories in a labyrinth of genres, characters, and vivid flashbacks. At turns detective caper, thriller, sci-fi tale, and romance, Trenque Lauquen changes perspective in its second part, and introduces supernatural elements into the drama.
Trenque Lauquen will open in New York City at Film at Lincoln Center on April 21, with a special engagement at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles on April 29 to follow. Further screenings in the U.S. and Canada will roll out in the comings weeks.
