Valentin [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful film.......2007-01-10

This is a wonderful film. The boy lead is a stunningly good actor: totally believable as a child caught in the middle of complex family relationships. On the one hand he seems so young, with the hopes and enjoyments of a child, and yet at the same time so resourceful and understanding.
The film is very funny at times when things are seen from a child's perspective which balances the poignant and sad parts.
One of the best films I've seen for a while.

Rodrigo Noya.......2006-12-17

The little boy who plays the character 'Valentin' is so captivating that he has to be the best child actor I have seen in a long time.

Never mind the subtitles, just watch this wonderful film.

I loved the setting, a few streets, humble homes and an amazing school. The children dressed in uniform consisting of a white lab coat and they carried little briefcases. Valentin's spectacles and eyes are a wonderful motif.

It's the best film I have watched this year.

Being a child again ;).......2005-02-18

This is the story of a very particular 8-year-old, who lives in Argentina in the late 1960`s. The spectator will laugh and cry, as Valentín (played by Rodrigo Noya) shows him the world, from his own point of view, and with some interesting and candid remarks.

Which is his world?. Well, first his home, then his neighbourhood. This little boy lives with his grandmother (Carmen Maura) since his parents divorced, and is visited by his father (played by the director, Alejandro Agresti) only from time to time. Valentín would like to see his father more, and thinks his mother abandoned him because she just didn't love him enough. Despite that, he isn't a gloomy person, but rather a good boy who tries to make the best of what he has.

Valentín has many dreams, for example being an astronaut. He is so eager to be one in the future that he even practices how to hold his breath when he is having a bath, and how to walk with weights on his feet. However, his most cherished dream is to have a family again, and he will do all he can to "create" one. He will have an opportunity of doing exactly that when he meets the last of his father`s girlfriends, Leticia (Julieta Cardinali). I don't want to tell you more about the plot. Suffice it to say that simple things, seens from the eyes of Valentín, aren't so simple any more. They acquire a charm that even the more jaded will enjoy...

Regarding the language, take into account that the original language is Spanish, but that this movie contains quite a bit of Argentinian slang that isn't overly well translated. That doesn't get in the way of understanding what is happening in the movie, but may interfere a little when it comes to nuances. So if you have an Argentinian friend ask him the "difficult" words, or search them in the Internet.

On the whole, I really liked this film even though I think the ending lacked something, I don't know exactly what. Maybe I just wanted more closure, or I needed to know more about what happened afterwards to the characters. All the same, I can highly recommend this movie to you. The acting was great, and the movie different. "Valentin" will make you remember again what being a child was like, even if that was a long time ago :)

Belen Alcat

"It will get me to the moon".......2005-01-19

The charm that this heartwarming movie possesses is based on two factors, the outstanding screenplay by Agresti and the unbelievable performance of a small kid that makes his debut on the big screen, Rodrigo Noya. The film depicts a series of events in Valentin's life when he was eight years old, with the kid himself narrating these events. This characteristic provides the story with an unusual freshness and candor, with the plain language used by most kids being a salient feature of this production.

Valentin lives with his grandmother (Carmen Maura) in a modest house in a barrio of Buenos Aires. He is obsessed with being an astronaut and is already practicing holding his breath, walking in the absence of gravity and dressing up in the required attire; the scene in which he puts on his home made astronaut suit is enough to make this movie worth watching. The reasons for Valentin living with his grandmother are that his mother abandoned him and his father a while back and his father is too busy to take care of him, focusing on his work and girlfriends instead. Valentin is always hoping that his mother will come back to claim him though.

Lately, I have been really lucky when picking Argentinean movies to watch, and this one was even better than others that have left me completely satisfied. The only "flaw" I found with it has to do with the English subtitles. When I started watching the film in Spanish I noticed that the language used by Valentin was very characteristic of the Rio de la Plata and was curious as to how they managed to translate it. Therefore, I turned on the English subtitles to check on this aspect, finding out that, as I suspected, there was a lot lost in the translation. The reason why I mention this as a flaw in quotes is that some things are not possible to translate. The bottom line is that the movie is still perfectly enjoyable, but you will enjoy it a little more if you understand Spanish.

In relation to the actors, as I mentioned, Rodrigo Noya is absolutely perfect for playing the role of Valentin, and Carmen Maura shows why she is one of the most renowned Spanish actresses, delivering a high level performance. It is good to see Fabian Vena back on a movie, even though it is only for a couple of minutes. Vena plays the role of Bernardo, a forward-looking priest that has no fear of challenging the establishment. We can see this clearly in the scene in which he praises the life and mourns the death of Ernesto "Che" Guevara. This scene is very important, not only for mentioning one of the most important figures in Latin American history, but also because it helps understand the climate reigning at the end of the decade of the 60s in South America.

DVD Review:

DVD Review List

DVD Review