Raising Victor Vargas
 

This is an enjoyable little flick.

It's about a group of Spanish-Americans and their lives.

It focuses on 16-year old Victory Vargas and his attempts to win
the affections of a young woman.

The cast is made up of basically unknowns and the movie has a lot of funny moments.

Victor and his brother and sister live on lower Manhattan with their grandmother.

http://landmarktheatres.com/Assets/I...ilms/34580.jpg

I thought the way the film was shoot was very effective. Great naturalistic performances from all the characters. The fact that the film took a very simplistic storyline and that it didn't get all mushy and sympathetic like a typical Hollywood movie would make it out to be, was commendable.

I wasn't planning on seeing this. But when I saw that Tim Orr (George Washington) photographed it I was all over it. And it is beautifully shot with great locations. Also, the actors really hold it together. However, I found the relationship between Judy's friend and Harold (Victor's friend) more interesting. Though that may be because it's so abbreviated on screen.

I havn't seen this but I loved the short film 5 Feet Tall and Rising which was writen and directed by the same guy and features all the same cast (it's on one of the WB Short DVDs).

Aren't they Puerto Rican?

They may have been. I wasn't particularly paying close attention to the race aspect.

Very nice film, beautifully shot and with excellent performances. It's always nice to see a teenage love story with some sincerety and realism.

*bump*

Dredging this up from the depths of the archives to see if anybody has any more comments. It was "recommended" to me by Amazon since I liked George Washington and All The Reall Girls so well, so I'm considering picking it up. Any thoughts?

If you like All the Real Girls I see no reason why Victor wouldn't be something you'd enjoy. I liked both.

On a related note, it looks like an SE release is coming out this month.

any idea what the differences are with the original release? is it a new transfer or just tacked on features? i saw the new cover which was quite ugly

It's a winner! By all means, grab a copy.

Good script with solid (and very naturalistic) performances.

From DVDPlanet . . .

Original Release

Languages/Subtitles:
* Original Language: English
* Subtitles Available: English, Spanish

Audio/Video Features:
* Anamorphic16x9
* Color
* Dolby Digital Stereo

Audio/Video Features:
* English Dubbed

Product Features:
* Closed Caption


Upcoming Release

Languages/Subtitles:
* Original Language: English
* Subtitles Available: English, Spanish

Audio/Video Features:
* Widescreen
* Color
* Dolby Surround

Product Features:
* Commentary/Multi-Audi
* Closed Caption
* Making Of
* Production Stills

Special Features:
* Director, Writer & Cast Commentary
* Short film Five Feet High and Rising, on which Raising Victor Vargas was based
* Featurette Five Feet High and Rising companion documenting the making of the short film