Valentin
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Movie Reviews of Valentin
Movie Review: About a boy looking for a family
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked "Valentin."
It walks through a few weeks of a boy's life, Valentin, as he navigates his days living with a suspicious, protective grandmother. His dad is caught up in his own life, his mother is apparently found some unnamed trouble, and so Valentin is in the care of his father's mother.
It has the sweetness and romance of "Cinema Paradiso," the charm of "The Wonder Years," the subtle dramatic humor of "Lost in Yonkers," and the uncanny real-time wisdom of "Simon Birch."
His father visits whenever he falls in love, and although Valentin loves his father, he knows the relationship is, at best, casual. The father is somewhat abusive, but the point made isn't that, but how he simply is not around.
When the father meets Leticia, a young woman half his age, he introduces them. Valentin falls for her completely, while Leticia listens carefully. To him, she is mother potential. He trusts her, but she is the wiser of the two, and finds that though Valentin is an almost perfect child, his father is not.
The pianist across the street is something like Roger in "101 Dalmations," only lonelier. Valentin connects with him, as they both meet emotional needs - the pianist needs a friend, and Valentin needs a father. Through piano lessons, they become friends.
Too often, the films in other languages that are delivered to the USA are replete with messages that either too complex or too adult and controversial for a younger audience. "Valentin," from Argentina, gets it right, with an all-ages appropriate film and a classic sense of purity, without the sugarcoated politically correct Hollywood morality-wrapped-in-a-movie grotesqueness.
"Valentin" carries itself by the imagination of the viewer, who must, at times, suspend a few matters of reality. Real boys are not that wise or observant, not when they are eight. Valentin is never smarmy or has that youthful but bitter street-smart approach. Rather, he is kind and naive, wanting his world to be better, and for those around him to be happy.
I fully recommend "Valentin."
Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com
Movie Review: A Cross-Eyed Argentinian Astronaut? Bravo!
Summary: 4 Stars
As the DVD interview with writer/director Alejandro Agresti makes clear, this is very much an autobiographical tale. And with this project, much rests on child-actor Rodrigo Noya's shoulders. Both protagonist and narrator, he slips in wry observations about Argentina in the 1960s, and is made to look adorable. Actually, he doesn't need much help; Rodrigo IS pretty darned cute (look at the astronaut suit!), which is a good thing. If he wasn't, VALENTIN would have been sunk.
It's not a spoiler to reveal that by the end of VALENTIN, the narrator apologizes somewhat for the slight nature of the tale. This is not to say that VALENTIN is without drama, but prospective viewers should know that this is a leisurely-plotted film. Once you adjust to its rhythm, it rewards are substantial. Buenos Aires looks beautiful, and the humor starts coming through.
SIDELIGHT: Yes, Rodrigo Noya really is cross-eyed. Oh, and ignore this movie's idiotic tagline, "Cupid just turned eight." One assumes a States-side marketer came up with it; it has little to do with the movie.
Movie Review: A sweet story, simply told
Summary: 4 Stars
Like so many excellent, non-Hollywood films, this one is quiet and subtle. At times, in fact, you wonder if it is indeed it's going somewhere. It is, but it takes it's time getting there (time well spent) and it does it in a marvelous, touching way. I rented this film on a whim (saw it on the shelf having never heard of it and thought, "Why not?"). It was a very pleasant surprise, alternately funny and sad, always touching. When you're tired of car explosions and sexcapades and soulless story telling that inhabits so many of todays films, turn to this one.Movie Review: A wonderful treat
Summary: 4 Stars
For those of you who don't know, Valentin is the lovely story of a eight year old boy living in Argentina in the 1960s with his grandmother. His parents are still alive, but his father works in Europe and his mother is... elsewhere.
It is a captivating movie. My only criticism of the DVD is that while it is subtitled, there is no dubbing option, and my grandmother is blind, and she wasn't able to listen to the movie and understand the story as she does with English-speaking or English-dubbed films. Otherwise, it is well worth the purchase price.
Movie Review: Cute foreign movie.
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie was very charming but the ending feels hurried and a little bit unsatisfying. The young boy in this movie is cute cute cute! Great character! Yet, I still feel that this movie could have had a much more touching and heartfelt ending. I love these kind of foreign films, though. It's hard to find American movies that portray the whimsy life without becoming over the top. Valentin is a cute film but I would reccommend something else. Check out The Color of Heaven or Cinema Paradiso.