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RAISING VICTOR VARGAS Send This Review to a Friend
For all their bravado, teenagers still face the uncertainties and anxieties of establishing relationships with the opposite sex, and it doesn't seem to matter which ethic group is involved. That's the key to the charm and warmth of "Raising Victor Vargas," which focuses on the life of a 16-year-old Hispanic teen, played engagingly by Victor Rasuk. Peter Sollett has directed the film from his own screenplay based on a story he co-wrote with Eva Vives, and the film was chosen as a selection in the New Films/New Directors series presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art.
Victor, who lives on New York's Lower East Side, tries his best to look and act macho as he projects his image as a would-be romancer. He can have sex with one of the most undesirable girls in the neighborhood nicknamed "Fat Donna" (Donna Maldonado), but he's aghast when the word gets around. He sets his sights on the seemingly inaccessible Judy (Judy Marte), tagged "Juicy Judy," who coldly dismisses him. But Victor won't be put off.
He appeals to Judy's younger brother Carlos (Wilfree Vasquez) to pave the way for a meeting, and the brother has the nerve to ask for an introduction to Victor's sister, who seems totally uninterested. Victor's persistence carries its own charm, and Judy soon weakens, agreeing that he can be her man--status is everything in the neighborhood--but sets strict limits as she maintains her dignity and wariness about trusting a guy enough to open herself emotionally.
All of this is extremely appealing, but the film gets a wonderful added lift from the presence of Victor's grandmother, with whom he and his sister live. As delightfully played by Altagracia Guzman, she is one tough lady bent on protecting her charges by keeping away all influences she perceives as evil. She is forever berating them, and involvement with the opposite sex is a no-no. It's her type of tough love, and that sets up one hilarious situation after another as the conflicts multiply.
Sollett obviously loves his characters and his approach makes it possible for us to become enamoured of them too. The scene in which Victor and Judy finally reach out to one another in their own private world is beautiful to behold. Sollett has made an entertaining and perceptive film. A Samuel Goldwyn Films/Fireworks Pictures release.
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