Very Cool!!!

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Best movie ever!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Raising Victor Vargas (2002): Dir: Peter Sollett / Cast: Victor Rasuk, Altagracia Guzman, Judy Marte, Wilfree Vasquez, Melonie Diaz: Standard romantic comedy about growth and generations. Victor Vargas has the top reputation of scoring with women in his neighbourhood until he is caught having sex with an overweight woman. He decides to ask out the new girl in town but after being rejected he bargains with her younger brother to set him up. In return Vargas will set him up with his sister. His strict grandmother takes a dislike to his behaviour and the example he is setting for his younger siblings. Fine setup hindered by formula and an ending that seems to justify teen sex. Directed with insight by Peter Sollett with an engaging performance by Victor Rasuk as Vargas who may get off with too much. Altagracia Guzman is superb as his grandmother who struggles to maintain the virtue of her household. Unfortunately Judy Marte as the new girl is standard issue predictable romance tired of being hit on by boys but ultimately accepts Vargas who will have her in the sack before the credits roll. Wilfree Vasquez as her anxious younger brother steals scenes as he provides information in hopes for a romantic reward. Message is strong but the filmmaking is amateur at best. Theme indicate the difficulties in raising anyone let alone Victor Vargas. Score: 5 ½ / 10

I love this movie and thought it was very well done. It doesn't just have to be enjoyed by specific race of people like some other reviewers are suggesting, it can be enjoyed by any intelligent person.Anyone who's grown up in poverty, raised by grandparents or guardians can appreciate this heart wrenching movie.Instability, poverty, trying to get by while still performing your responsibilities (school, chores etc) are themes of Raising Victor Vargas. Of course I loved Judy Marte's performance and will now watch any movie that she's in.A lot of people live this way, and it's increasing all over. Unless we get back to a place where there is stability in families, Raising Victor Vargas will not just be a movie, it will become a documentary.

RAISING VICTOR VARGAS – 9.3/10 Director: Peter Sollett Writer: Peter Sollett With an unknown cast and coming from a debut director, the film turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Raising Victor Vargas is a 'coming of age' film, if one might call it that, but in every sense of the word, extremely mature. With no special effects or dazzling visuals, Raising Victor Vargas is a must watch for sakes of storytelling and scriptwriting.The film revolves around the story of a youngster Victor Vargas, a Dominican teenager, played exceptionally well by Victor Rasuk. Victor, who is out to regain his image after word of his affair with a 'fat' girl leaks to the neighborhood. To rise to his old glory, he must win over the pretty Judy Marte ('Juicy' Judy Gonzalez). For most parts, the story is just that. While detailing it any further would lead to spoilers, watch out for the most interesting aspects of the film, which in this case are precisely those parts which seem least relevant.The film manages to charm, delight and appease with the smallest of details, ones that are almost always overlooked in films seeking to be larger than life. It is as though the writer/director has understood the simplest secret of storytelling. He deals with nuances of the youth, the teenagers and their daily lives in a very refined and mature manner. Not succumbing to obvious temptations of problems facing the youth, the director dodges all the clichés, from drugs to violence, from rape to vengeance.There isn't really much to say about the film. It is shot in a few locations, with limited characters and resources. Yet the performances are fantastic, the script is simple and funny, the acting is outstanding. The film flows from one scene to the next and very soon without actually realizing it, we are living the lives of the characters, laughing and smiling with them, cheering and hooting for them. Sadly, we haven't seen a lot from Sollett since 2002; hope he makes an appearance soon.

I had the opportunity to see Peter Sollett's celebrated short film, FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING, at the First Run Festival (NYU's student showcase) in April of 2000 and it truly was a remarkable achievement in the short format. Sollett cast appealing and charismatic young non-actors from around the Brooklyn neighborhood where he was shooting. The result was something out of the French New Wave – a raw, unflinching look at youth and growing up while remaining optimistic, romantic and charming. He even ended the film with a freeze frame, akin to THE 400 BLOWS.I bring up the short because it is this short on which RAISING VICTOR VARGAS, which aired on Saturday on Reel 13, was based. Sollett actually uses the same kids that he used in the short, only now they are several years older and suddenly very aware that they are acting. The improvisational moments that Sollett allows for in both films are more contrived in the feature now that the kids are older and more experienced. That lightning-in-a-bottle honesty that he captured in FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING was missing in RAISING VICTOR VARGAS. The lead kid, Victor Rasuk, was much taller than five feet this time around, but he was still trying to play the puny upstart vying for the attention of a much taller and potentially older woman. Only he's not so puny and they are now the same height. The dynamics of the original were lost.This is not to say that RAISING VICTOR VARGAS is a bad film – not by any stretch. It is very clear that Sollett is a very intelligent and talented filmmaker. The family dynamic he created in the film is very effective and the addition of the grandmother character was a great idea. I particularly like that she was flawed instead of the perfect, learned and loving matriarch that you so often see. There are even some moments that approach the immediacy and sincerity of the short, but not enough to justify returning to the same story. RAISING VICTOR VARGAS got extraordinary reviews when it first came out a few years ago, but I wonder if all those critics had the opportunity to see the short as I had. If they had, I wonder if they wouldn't feel as let down as I did.(For more information on this or any other Reel 13 Indie, check out www.reel13.org).