Milo Barría as Milo

Writer/director Lorenzo Ferro started out as an actor in ‘El Ángel’ (Luis Ortega) and ‘Simón de la Montaña’ (Federico Luis) for which he was awarded seven ‘Best Actor’ Awards. He also appeared in Netflix’s ‘Narcos’ series).  Lucas A. Vignale is also known for Music videos: - ‘Trueno: Ñeri’ (2020) and ‘Trueno Y Victor Heredia: Tierra Zanta’ (2022), and two films about the Argentine band “Usted Señalemelo.”

These two friends have developed a working relationship that led to ‘La Pasión’ a short film, and now their debut feature: ‘The River Train’ (El Tren Fluvial) 2026.

                                          Lorenzo Ferro, co-director

“My loneliness is like a child who’s never seen Christmas”

A young star in the making as a Malambo dancer, with its fiendishly complicated foot work, Milo (Milo Barría) is familiar with working on stage as he dances for a regional competition. Feeling ignored by his family, and desperately lonely despite his skills, he dreams of a life that offers more, and is certain he can find that in the city of Buenos Aires.

Having borrowed some money, Milo hangs about the charming and remote train station in the Pampas preparing to run away.  Built by the British when they ran the railways in Argentina, the old station is run down and now occupied by a wild man with a crown of thorns who hangs about listening to his old radio. 

Milo, finding himself with strange toys and birds on the train, is entertained by a poetic train driver who recites poems over the loudspeaker: -

“I am between the sword of the landscape and the hot bricks of oblivion…”

 Milo takes in the shock of the change from the empty pampa’s horizons to the choked-up cityscape without flinching. He seems above it all and beats his other contenders at the job audition without a problem, where he meets the sympathetic profesora played by Rita Pauls.

‘The River Train’ title refers to the 120 km train ride that Milo takes from his rural village to the city of Buenos Aires where he hopes to find his dream… in the event he finds himself, he loses an interesting job opportunity due to his own naïveté, and realizes that home is not as bad as he thought after all. The rails are raised up so that river flooding cannot affect them, as they travel in an interminable straight line to reach the horizon. A train to rival Route 66.

The film has a linear narrative that lacks multi- layers, but Milo subtly played by Milo Barra, carries it off with a quiet attitude that is beyond his years. He meets some jokers on the way, colourful characters in their own right that could have been further exploited:  El Negro Pésame (Pitiful Blacky) played by Fabián Casas, who finds Milo a job opportunity but insists on his 50% cut, accompanied by his toothless friend Cristal (Pehuén Pedre) who is determined to make it to Hollywood.

                                 Lucas  A. Vignale - co- director.

Milo, innocent and naïvely fights in vain for his little job that inevitably does not happen. The strangeness of the ‘adventures’ lead one to wonder if it was all imagined of whether it really took place. Staying in a small hotel where he shares his room with El Negro Pésame and Cristal, eventually makes Milo realize that perhaps he was better off at home and returns. 

The poetic train driver continues his poetry session serenading his captive audience on the train:

“…it was the first solo journey on the brown train that refuses to die.”

 Milo dreams up the letter he will write as he worries about jot finding his way home: -

“… I hope I get there before dark…don’t wait for me to eat - But if you have dessert leave some for me, leave the door unlocked, I have so many stories to tell you.”

There is charm in the simplicity of this film, but perhaps the story would have been better suited to a short film, or else, more thought given to the sub-stories that were happening around Milo that are left in the air.

Credits: -

Writer/Directors: Lorenzo Ferro and Lucas A Vignale/ DOP: Thomas Grinberg/ Editors:  Andrés Medina & Lucas A. Vignale/ Original score: Oniria / Sound Design: Martín García Blaya/ Production Design & Costume: Olivia Schachtel/ Production: Tomás Grandio. Valentine Torre, Casiana Vera/ Exec Producers: Nicolás Pérez Veiga, Daniel Nofal and Eugenio Fernández Abril / Film Produced by Cinco Rayos, Buenos Aires Argentina

Cast: -

Milo: Milo Barría/ Professor: Rita Pauls/ Professor: Rita Pauls/ El Negro Pésame: Fabián Casas/ Cristal: Pehuén Pedre/ Lucrecia: Lucrecia Pazos/