Valentín
Encyclopedia
Valentín is a 2002 Argentine
, French, Italian, Dutch
, and Spanish drama film
, written and directed by Alejandro Agresti
. The film features Rodrigo Noya
as Valentín
and Carmen Maura
as the grandmother. Director Alejandro Agresti also stars as Valentín's father.
The picture revolves around the world of an eight-year-old boy, Valentín (Rodrigo Noya
), who dreams of one day becoming an astronaut
. While caught in the middle of his family, he attempts to better the bewildering world around him.
Valentín is friends with his uncle Chiche (Jean Pierre Noher) and the piano teacher Rufo who lives across the street (Mex Urtizberea). Both talk to Valentín as if he were an adult, and it seems Valentín is wise beyond his years.
His uncle takes him to mass and where a priest (Fabián Vena) talks about the death an Argentinian doctor who was killed recently. He talks about he Guevara] a man "who believed in an ideal, and who believed that injustice could be overcome. Please, don't leave here before you've asked yourselves, in all sincerity: Who of you would give, not his whole life, but a year or even just one day, for an ideal, the way that Che gave all he had?" Many in the audience walk out and Valentín comments: "But just like my uncle said, the priest couldn't change anything. Everything stayed the same."
Leticia (Julieta Cardinali
), his father's latest romantic interest, pays a visit and both she and Valentin spend the day together going to the park, seeing a movie and sharing a meal. Valentín tells her personal things about his life and father. Leticia rethinks her relationship with his father and breaks up with him. His father is quite upset and blames Valentín.
One day Valentin realizes that his grandmother is ill but refuses to see a doctor. Valentín makes plans on how to get her to see Dr. Galaburri (Carlos Roffé). The plan he cooks up seems to work and she makes certain lifestyle changes. However, one day his grandmother passes away and Valentin comes to stay with one of his friends from school. Valentín is thoughtful and buys a painting for Dr. Galaburri to display in his office.
One day a man visits Valentín and gives him a shirt that his mother sent for him. They have a conversation about his mother and Valentín begins to understand why his mother has stayed away for such a long time.
The film ends as he sets up a blind date between Leticia and his piano teacher Rufo. They all have a meal together and Valentín tells us he decided to become a writer and that Leticia and Rufo lived happily ever after.
lauded the film and casting of the young boy as Valentín, writing, "I am not always sure what I mean when I praise a child actor, especially one as young as Rodrigo Noya. Certainly casting has a lot to do with his appeal; he looks the part and exudes a touching solemnity. But there is more. There's something about this kid, and the way he talks and listens and watches people, that is very convincing. Perhaps it helped that he was directed by a man who was once Valentin himself. The film is warm and intriguing, and he is the engine that pulls us through it. We care about what happens to him; high praise."
Critics Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of the website Spirituality & Practice liked the film and wrote, "Written and directed by Alejandro Agresti, this remarkable drama takes us right into the yearning heart of a very smart and lonely young boy...The hopeful finale gives Valentin an opportunity to play matchmaker, something he finds much to his liking. This tender and heart-warming Argentinian film is a winner!"
The New York Times
's Dave Kehr seems to like the film (he says nothing negative about it) but does make the case that the director panders to the audience a bit. He wrote, "[The film] has become all too familiar in the art houses: the cute child who awakens the cranky grown-ups around him to the infinite possibilities of life...[it] neglects few opportunities to pander to its public...[and] soon enough the bouncy pop score takes over again, and Valentín returns to its true business, tugging at well-worn heart strings."
The film was first presented at the Netherlands Film Festival
on September 29, 2002. It opened in Argentina on March 12, 2002 at the Mar del Plata Film Festival
, and opened wide in the country on September 11, 2003.
The film was shown at various film festivals, including: the International Film Festival Rotterdam
, Netherlands; the Cinémas d'Amérique Latine de Toulouse, France; the Cannes Film Festival
, France; the Seattle International Film Festival
, USA; the Toronto Film Festival, Canada; the London Film Festival
, UK; and others.
In the United States it opened on a limited basis on May 7, 2004.
Nominations
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, French, Italian, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and Spanish drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, written and directed by Alejandro Agresti
Alejandro Agresti
Alejandro Agresti is an Argentine film director and producer. He has become increasingly influential in the United States and directed The Lake House with top Hollywood actors Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in 2006....
. The film features Rodrigo Noya
Rodrigo Noya
Rodrigo Noya is a child actor from Argentina. He currently has a starring role as Lorenzo Montero in an action series, Hermanos & Detectives.-Biography:Noya made his film debut in Raúl Rodríguez Peila's Dibu 3...
as Valentín
and Carmen Maura
Carmen Maura
Carmen García Maura is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, Maura is best known for her collaborations with noted Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar.-Early life:...
as the grandmother. Director Alejandro Agresti also stars as Valentín's father.
The picture revolves around the world of an eight-year-old boy, Valentín (Rodrigo Noya
Rodrigo Noya
Rodrigo Noya is a child actor from Argentina. He currently has a starring role as Lorenzo Montero in an action series, Hermanos & Detectives.-Biography:Noya made his film debut in Raúl Rodríguez Peila's Dibu 3...
), who dreams of one day becoming an astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
. While caught in the middle of his family, he attempts to better the bewildering world around him.
Plot
The story takes place in 1969 and is told through the eyes of Valentín, an eight-year-old small cross-eyed boy (Noya) whose thick black-rimmed glasses sit heavily on his face. He lives with his grandmother (Maura) due to the divorce of his parents. He dreams of being an astronaut one day and intently follows the on-going space race between the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union. He no longer sees his Jewish mother, who was chased out of the family home by his imperious, dictator-like father (Agresti). He misses her badly but hardly remembers her. His anti-Semitic father only occasionally visits to his mother and son, preferring to live the life of an Argentine playboy.Valentín is friends with his uncle Chiche (Jean Pierre Noher) and the piano teacher Rufo who lives across the street (Mex Urtizberea). Both talk to Valentín as if he were an adult, and it seems Valentín is wise beyond his years.
His uncle takes him to mass and where a priest (Fabián Vena) talks about the death an Argentinian doctor who was killed recently. He talks about he Guevara] a man "who believed in an ideal, and who believed that injustice could be overcome. Please, don't leave here before you've asked yourselves, in all sincerity: Who of you would give, not his whole life, but a year or even just one day, for an ideal, the way that Che gave all he had?" Many in the audience walk out and Valentín comments: "But just like my uncle said, the priest couldn't change anything. Everything stayed the same."
Leticia (Julieta Cardinali
Julieta Cardinali
Julieta Cardinali in Buenos Aires, is an Argentine film and television actress.-Filmography:* Buenos Aires me mata * Una noche con Sabrina Love * Valentín * Dormir al sol...
), his father's latest romantic interest, pays a visit and both she and Valentin spend the day together going to the park, seeing a movie and sharing a meal. Valentín tells her personal things about his life and father. Leticia rethinks her relationship with his father and breaks up with him. His father is quite upset and blames Valentín.
One day Valentin realizes that his grandmother is ill but refuses to see a doctor. Valentín makes plans on how to get her to see Dr. Galaburri (Carlos Roffé). The plan he cooks up seems to work and she makes certain lifestyle changes. However, one day his grandmother passes away and Valentin comes to stay with one of his friends from school. Valentín is thoughtful and buys a painting for Dr. Galaburri to display in his office.
One day a man visits Valentín and gives him a shirt that his mother sent for him. They have a conversation about his mother and Valentín begins to understand why his mother has stayed away for such a long time.
The film ends as he sets up a blind date between Leticia and his piano teacher Rufo. They all have a meal together and Valentín tells us he decided to become a writer and that Leticia and Rufo lived happily ever after.
Cast
- Rodrigo NoyaRodrigo NoyaRodrigo Noya is a child actor from Argentina. He currently has a starring role as Lorenzo Montero in an action series, Hermanos & Detectives.-Biography:Noya made his film debut in Raúl Rodríguez Peila's Dibu 3...
as Valentín - Carmen MauraCarmen MauraCarmen García Maura is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, Maura is best known for her collaborations with noted Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar.-Early life:...
as Grandmother - Alejandro AgrestiAlejandro AgrestiAlejandro Agresti is an Argentine film director and producer. He has become increasingly influential in the United States and directed The Lake House with top Hollywood actors Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in 2006....
as Father - Julieta CardinaliJulieta CardinaliJulieta Cardinali in Buenos Aires, is an Argentine film and television actress.-Filmography:* Buenos Aires me mata * Una noche con Sabrina Love * Valentín * Dormir al sol...
as Leticia - Jean Pierre Noher as Uncle Chiche
- Mex Urtizberea as Rufo, The piano teacher
- Carlos RofféCarlos RofféCarlos Roffé was an Argentine film and television actor active between 1969 and 2005.He worked in the cinema of Argentina. IN 1985 he appeared as himself in Bailoretto, la aventura de un rebelde. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he appeared in a number of films of Alejandro Agresti...
as Dr. Galaburri - Lorenzo Quinteros as Man in bar
- Marina Glezer as Teacher
- Stéfano de GregorioStéfano de Gregorio-Profession biography:Stéfano became famous when he was only eighteen months old. He participated in a lot of commercial activities, acted in the movie Valentine. In 2003, he acted the role of Mateo in Rincón de Luz produced by Cris Morena. In 2004 and 2005, he play the role of Thomas in the novel...
as Roberto - Fabián Vena as The Priest
Background
In the DVD interview with director Alejandro Agresti, he says the film was based on one year of his childhood. Furthermore, Agresti says he was motivated by what he perceives as the nature of kids. He makes the case that kids have an ability to deal with life's difficulties and have a natural inclination to overcome obstacles out of sheer love and necessity, and not out of pride and fear.Critical reception
Film critic Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
lauded the film and casting of the young boy as Valentín, writing, "I am not always sure what I mean when I praise a child actor, especially one as young as Rodrigo Noya. Certainly casting has a lot to do with his appeal; he looks the part and exudes a touching solemnity. But there is more. There's something about this kid, and the way he talks and listens and watches people, that is very convincing. Perhaps it helped that he was directed by a man who was once Valentin himself. The film is warm and intriguing, and he is the engine that pulls us through it. We care about what happens to him; high praise."
Critics Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of the website Spirituality & Practice liked the film and wrote, "Written and directed by Alejandro Agresti, this remarkable drama takes us right into the yearning heart of a very smart and lonely young boy...The hopeful finale gives Valentin an opportunity to play matchmaker, something he finds much to his liking. This tender and heart-warming Argentinian film is a winner!"
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
's Dave Kehr seems to like the film (he says nothing negative about it) but does make the case that the director panders to the audience a bit. He wrote, "[The film] has become all too familiar in the art houses: the cute child who awakens the cranky grown-ups around him to the infinite possibilities of life...[it] neglects few opportunities to pander to its public...[and] soon enough the bouncy pop score takes over again, and Valentín returns to its true business, tugging at well-worn heart strings."
Distribution
The producers used the following tagline to market the film:- Cupid just turned eight.
The film was first presented at the Netherlands Film Festival
Netherlands Film Festival
The Netherlands Film Festival is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht.During the ten-day festival, all Dutch film productions of the previous year are exhibited. Besides feature films, the program also consists of short subjects, documentary...
on September 29, 2002. It opened in Argentina on March 12, 2002 at the Mar del Plata Film Festival
Mar del Plata Film Festival
The Mar del Plata International Film Festival is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina...
, and opened wide in the country on September 11, 2003.
The film was shown at various film festivals, including: the International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is an annual film festival held in various cinemas in Rotterdam, Netherlands held at the end of January. It is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno...
, Netherlands; the Cinémas d'Amérique Latine de Toulouse, France; the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, France; the Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
, USA; the Toronto Film Festival, Canada; the London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
, UK; and others.
In the United States it opened on a limited basis on May 7, 2004.
Release dates
- France: March 21, 2003
- Italy: April 16, 2004
- Netherlands: February 6, 2003
- Spain: April 4, 2003
Awards
Wins- Netherlands Film FestivalNetherlands Film FestivalThe Netherlands Film Festival is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht.During the ten-day festival, all Dutch film productions of the previous year are exhibited. Besides feature films, the program also consists of short subjects, documentary...
: Golden Calf; Best Director of a Feature Film, Alejandro Agresti; 2002. - Mar del Plata Film FestivalMar del Plata Film FestivalThe Mar del Plata International Film Festival is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina...
: ACCA Jury - Special Mention Best Film; Special Jury Award; both for Alejandro Agresti; 2003. - Newport International Film Festival: Audience Award, Best Feature, Alejandro Agresti; 2003.
- Oslo Films from the South Festival: Audience Award; Alejandro Agresti; 2003.
- Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Art Direction, Floris Vos; Best Director, Alejandro Agresti; Best Editing, Alejandro Brodersohn; Best Film; Best Music, Paul M. van Brugge; Best New Actor, Rodrigo Noya; Best Original Screenplay, Alejandro Agresti; 2004.
- Imagen Foundation Awards: Imagen Award, Best Picture; 2004.
Nominations
- Oulu International Children's Film Festival: Starboy Award, Alejandro Agresti; 2003.
- Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Cinematography, Jose Luis Cajaraville; Best Sound, Fernando Soldevila; Best Supporting Actor, Mex Urtizberea; Best Supporting Actress, Julieta Cardinali, Best Supporting Actress, Carmen Maura; 2004.
- Cartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina; Best Film, Aejandro Agresti; 2004.
- Young Artist Awards: Young Artist Award Best International Feature Film; 2004.
External links
- Valentín at the cinenacional.comCinenacional.comCinenacional.com is a web portal and web-based database about Argentine cinema.The site provides a vast array of information, including: films, television programs, directors, actors, cinematographers, film editors, production designers, and other production professions in Argentina...
- Valentín English dialogue
- Valentín review at CINEstrenos by Alejandro del Pino
- Valentín review at La Nación by Julia Montesoro
- Valentín trailer at You Tube