Valentin
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Movie Reviews of Valentin
Movie Review: Don't be misled by bad marketing. This is a great film about a small boy.
Summary: 5 Stars
First, I would like to say that I resisted "Valentin" for years because of the poster - a cute little boy and the tag line, "Cupid just turned 8." I imagined it to be an Argentine version of "Sleepless in Seattle." I guess Miramax thought it would be a stronger "sell" to international audiences. Personally, I thought it sounded cloying and therefore avoided the film. Now that I've seen "Valentin", I realize the scene that tag relates to takes up less than one percent of the film. The original tag line for the movie is: "Para volver a vivir aquellas pequeñas cosas que eran tan grandes cuando fuiste chico" which means something like "In order to relive those little things that were so big when you were small." Now you have a better idea of what you're getting.
Valentin is a little boy who feels like he has big problems; and he's not really wrong. His parents divorced and he was sent to live with his grandparents. Now his grandfather has died and his grandmother is lonely and sad all the time. Although he loves his grandmother, Valentin wishes for a more normal life with young, loving parents. Instead he has a distant father with a hair trigger temper. His father doesn't come by too often but each time he does it's to raise and dash his son's hopes by introducing yet another girlfriend by saying, "this may be your new mother." Valentin hasn't seen his own mother since he was three years old, and barely remembers her. His knowledge of his mother come almost exclusively from the hateful things his father and grandmother say about her.
These are the sort of things that weigh heavily on a child and shape the kind of adult he will become. Through some bitter experiences, Valentin exhibits a child's strength and ability to cope. Although it amazes a lot of adults, kids can be pretty good about figuring out ways to thrive.
This is the story of a thoughtful child; when he makes a carefully considered observation about his feelings it can be very moving. This film excels at showing real humanity. There is neglect and abuse, but also tenderness and love. Sometimes they just don't come from the sources you'd expect. This is a film for those who are more interested in humanity than in FX.
This DVD has a very nice interview with the director, Alejandro Agresti, in English This is the story of his own childhood and he proves more than capable of getting the actors to convey the spirit he's trying to get across. There is a theatrical trailer for the film, also in English. The movie itself is in Spanish with less than optimal English subtitles. If you rely on subtitles you will lose a lot of the humor and subtlety of the film, but it's still very good!
One more thing, the music is excellent but uncredited. If you like the music, look for Luis Alberto Spinetta and his first band, Almendra (Almendra). A couple songs used in notable scenes in the film are "Color Humana" and "Laura Va".
Highly recommended.
Movie Review: Wonder as seen only through a Child's Eyes!
Summary: 5 Stars
VALENTIN is warmly humorous, tender, fascinating little film form Argentina written and directed (and somewhat autobiographical) by Alejandro Agresti. It celebrates the wisdom and the fantasy world and the focused longings of children whose encounters with the adult world can be tutorial for hardened adults.
Valentin (played with uncanny brilliance by Rodrigo Noya) is an 8-year-old boy who lives with his grandmother (Carmen Maura) because his mother deserted him and his womanizing father (played by the director Alejandro Agresti) doesn't want his lifestyle impeded by the presence of a child. Valentin's grandmother is kind, allows Valentin's preoccupation with space travel and spacecraft, and despite the fact that she is losing her will to live since the death of her husband, she supports Valentin's oddly wonderful ways.
Valentin desires an intact family unit over all things, even his obsession with outer space and his little joys of playing the piano with a kind teacher Rufo (Mex Urtizberea), and with every female his father brings into the picture he longs for his father to marry and provide him a home. One of these women is a beautiful girl Leticia (Julieta Cardinali) and Valentin falls head over heals in love with her and is so eager to have her be his mother that he shares his father's dark secret with her, a fact that alienates Leticia.
The manner in which Valentin restores his own version of happiness by creating his own form of family brings the story to a warm and unsuspected ending. Valentin now contented decides to abandon his hope of space travel and become a writer - even if his little story he has just related is all he has to write! But what a significantly instructive bit of philosophical writing this is. This is a first rate film, beautifully cast and acted and directed and scored. For a huge dollop of 'feel good', curl up with this special treat. Highly recommended! Grady Harp, January 2005
Movie Review: A wonderful suprise!
Summary: 5 Stars
I will endeavor to add a unique perspective regarding this movie that I hope will give you a feel for what you will encounter without being overly technical or giving away the plot. I have been trying to learn Spanish over the past 4 years by watching DVDs and studying every Latin film I can get my hands on..... and this movie does not disappoint! Set in the sights and sounds the of the European-flavored city of Buenos Aires, Valentin tells us about the human condition via the imagination of a child. It is full of touching humor and expressions of the value of love as well as the pain felt when love appears absent. Julieta Cardinali who plays Leticia, delivers an amazing performance. She has by far the potential to be the next Penelope Cruz... and then some! ....This is a movie you will want to show your friends and it makes a perfect "date" movie (but only if you like the person you are with!). If you are familiar with recent Argentine films, at the end of Valentin you will likely feel similar to the way you might feel at the end of "Son of the Bride" (Hijo de la novia, in my opinion the best Argentine film to date).
So here are my ratings:
***** 5 stars for a perfect movie to watch on a date with someone you love (make it a double feature with "Son of the Bride" and you will laugh, cry and just might elope)
***** 5 stars for Julieta Cardinali (Leticia ) and Rodrigo Noya (Valentin) . I am looking forward to seeing more work from them in the future!
*** 3 stars for using it to learn Spanish. If the Zone 1 version actually had the Spanish subtitles so you could both listen to and read the Spanish to train you ear, I would give it 5 stars. The Argentine spanish is wonderful to listen to in this film as it dances with the influence of Italian. Additionally, this movie would be appropriate for viewing in any high school Spanish class.
¡VALE LA PENA!
Movie Review: DIVINA!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Una de las peliculas mas lindas y tiernas que he visto en mucho tiempo. Hoy dia la tematica que prevalece en las peliculas es el sexo, la violencia y las drogas. No se porque para muchos si una pelicula no tiene ninguno de los elementos mencionados se considera cursi o aburrida. Para mi es todo lo contrario; prefiero este tipo de cine a las peliculas donde solo se ven escenas explicitas de sexo y violencia. Este crio es muy perceptivo para un chico de su edad y es imposible no enamorarse de su personaje.
One of the most beautiful and tender movies I've seen in a long time. Today for a movie to be considred "good" sex and violence should be the prevailing themes. For many if a movie has none of the foregoing is considered corny or boring. For me it is quite the opposite, I prefer this type of cinema than to movies where you only see explicit sex scenes and violence. This kid is very perceptive for a boy his age and it is impossible not to fall in love with his character. I HIGHLY recommend it.
Movie Review: what a wonderful and profound film
Summary: 5 Stars
lonely childhood with a broken family. simply told story, maybe cliched in lot of ways but at the same time in a very unique way to tell. the loneliness of this little boy touched and moved me deeply. making him wear magnifying glasses to adjust his little out-of-focus cross eyes is one of the unnecessary cliched touches like what we saw in 'everything is illuminated', but it's a very nice touch by all means. this is a very very good little film out of spain, not a drop of commercial junk like what the hollywood winos would inappropriately do to a movie like this. the sound track is also very subtle, very compatible with the mood of the little boy's feelings. a triumphant nice contribution to the movie civilization. very much appreciated.