Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival
Argentine filmmaker Alejandro Agresti plumbs his Buenos Aires childhood for this late-'60s memory piece, which centers on the coming of age of an 8-year-old already wise beyond his years. With charm to spare, "Valentin" fuses nostalgia and humor in an episodic story whose ultimate focus is the birth of a writer. Having reaped nods on the international fest circuit, the Argentine-Euro co-production, which opened the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival on Friday, should prove an art house performer in the States when Miramax releases it in the spring.
In his second screen role, the adorably no-nonsense Rodrigo Noya plays the title character, a perceptive, precocious youngster whose divorced parents have left him with his grandmother (Spanish film vet Carmen Maura), a cheerless woman who has nothing good to say about anyone except her late husband. Although she depends on Valentin's company, she's not amused by his random observations, penetrating questions or diligent rehearsals for a career as an astronaut -- he holds out hope that by the time he's old enough to man a rocket, Argentina will have developed a space program. The boy's father, a narcissistic jerk played by Agresti, visits occasionally to apprise his mother and son of the latest in a series of failed relationships.
Valentin may have crossed eyes and thick, oversize glasses, but he sees quite clearly through his father's weak character, his grandmother's neediness and the foibles of most of the grown-ups around him, and he never hesitates to give them a bit of lip. With awe-inspiring confidence and resilience, the third-grader forges friendships with adults who show him kindness: a hangdog musician neighbor (Mex Urtizberea) who gives him piano lessons and his first taste of whiskey as well as lovely, sad-eyed Leticia, his father's new girlfriend (Julieta Cardinale, whose film debut was Agresti's "A Night With Sabrina Love").
All the performances reflect the boy's view of the characters, and the chemistry between him and angelic Leticia is especially touching. Still nursing a child's bewildered ache for the mother he barely remembers, Valentin courts the young woman, hoping his considerable powers of persuasion will convince her to marry his dad.
Set against a turbulent time, "Valentin" does not directly address the stirrings of cultural and political change but presents them from a child's point of view: the excitement of such startling innovations as audiocassettes and portable recorders
the despairing news, delivered by a priest, of Che's murder in Bolivia. Faded greens and blues predominate, conveying the weathered European-style grandeur of Buenos Aires' public and private spaces, held in retrospect's tender regard.
VALENTIN
Miramax
First Floor Features/RWA/Patagonik Film Group/DMVB Films/Duque y Castelao Prods./Surf Film
Credits:
Director-writer: Alejandro Agresti
Producer: Laurens Geels
Director of photography: Jose Luis Cajaraville
Production designer: Floris Vos
Music: Paul M. van Bruggen
Costume designer: Marisa Urruti
Editor: Alejandro Brodersohn
Cast:
Grandmother: Carmen Maura
Valentin: Rodrigo Noya
Leticia: Julieta Cardinale
Uncle Chiche: Jean Pierre Noher
Rufo: Mex Urtizberea
Father: Alejandro Agresti
Dr. Galaburri: Carlos Roffe
Priest: Fabian Vena
Running time -- 83 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Argentine filmmaker Alejandro Agresti plumbs his Buenos Aires childhood for this late-'60s memory piece, which centers on the coming of age of an 8-year-old already wise beyond his years. With charm to spare, "Valentin" fuses nostalgia and humor in an episodic story whose ultimate focus is the birth of a writer. Having reaped nods on the international fest circuit, the Argentine-Euro co-production, which opened the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival on Friday, should prove an art house performer in the States when Miramax releases it in the spring.
In his second screen role, the adorably no-nonsense Rodrigo Noya plays the title character, a perceptive, precocious youngster whose divorced parents have left him with his grandmother (Spanish film vet Carmen Maura), a cheerless woman who has nothing good to say about anyone except her late husband. Although she depends on Valentin's company, she's not amused by his random observations, penetrating questions or diligent rehearsals for a career as an astronaut -- he holds out hope that by the time he's old enough to man a rocket, Argentina will have developed a space program. The boy's father, a narcissistic jerk played by Agresti, visits occasionally to apprise his mother and son of the latest in a series of failed relationships.
Valentin may have crossed eyes and thick, oversize glasses, but he sees quite clearly through his father's weak character, his grandmother's neediness and the foibles of most of the grown-ups around him, and he never hesitates to give them a bit of lip. With awe-inspiring confidence and resilience, the third-grader forges friendships with adults who show him kindness: a hangdog musician neighbor (Mex Urtizberea) who gives him piano lessons and his first taste of whiskey as well as lovely, sad-eyed Leticia, his father's new girlfriend (Julieta Cardinale, whose film debut was Agresti's "A Night With Sabrina Love").
All the performances reflect the boy's view of the characters, and the chemistry between him and angelic Leticia is especially touching. Still nursing a child's bewildered ache for the mother he barely remembers, Valentin courts the young woman, hoping his considerable powers of persuasion will convince her to marry his dad.
Set against a turbulent time, "Valentin" does not directly address the stirrings of cultural and political change but presents them from a child's point of view: the excitement of such startling innovations as audiocassettes and portable recorders
the despairing news, delivered by a priest, of Che's murder in Bolivia. Faded greens and blues predominate, conveying the weathered European-style grandeur of Buenos Aires' public and private spaces, held in retrospect's tender regard.
VALENTIN
Miramax
First Floor Features/RWA/Patagonik Film Group/DMVB Films/Duque y Castelao Prods./Surf Film
Credits:
Director-writer: Alejandro Agresti
Producer: Laurens Geels
Director of photography: Jose Luis Cajaraville
Production designer: Floris Vos
Music: Paul M. van Bruggen
Costume designer: Marisa Urruti
Editor: Alejandro Brodersohn
Cast:
Grandmother: Carmen Maura
Valentin: Rodrigo Noya
Leticia: Julieta Cardinale
Uncle Chiche: Jean Pierre Noher
Rufo: Mex Urtizberea
Father: Alejandro Agresti
Dr. Galaburri: Carlos Roffe
Priest: Fabian Vena
Running time -- 83 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
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