Valentin review

The hero of this film is an 8-year-old Argentinian boy living with his grandmother in 1960s Buenos Aires. And although he doesn't do anything conventionally heroic, the little victories he wins in his short life suggest that he might well have a noticeable future. Given that Valentin is a partly-autobiographical tale told by director Alejandro Agresti, this prophecy seems to have become fulfilled, although the film is perhaps sweetened by an extra dollop of sugar here and there.

Which is sometimes no bad thing, considering that on this occasion you are more than likely to leave the cinema feeling pleasantly enriched. This is largely thanks to a wonderful performance in the title role by Rodrigo Noya, who doesn't overdo the cutesy imp too much and instead presents us with a three dimensional character that we can easily identify with.

Valentin leads a somewhat solitary existence with his curmudgeonly granny (Spanish superstar Carmen Maura), who constantly chides him over the departure of his supposedly selfish mother when he was a baby. Since then Valentin has rarely seen his philandering, bullish father (director Agresti takes on the role of his own parent himself), and between bouts of planning to become the first Argentinian on the moon, devises ways to make his grandmother and father happy once again.

Central to this is convincing his father's latest young girlfriend Leticia (the delectable Julieta Cardinali) that she really should marry his father and become his stepmother. However, being rather disaster-prone, the lad's efforts end in the couple splitting, and his need for familial love grows even stronger.

Nevertheless the boy perseveres, and when the unthinkable happens it seems that he will be left all alone with only his memories. Until he connives another plan involving the rather unlikely piano-playing neighbour that he has befriended.

Valentin works strongly in depicting a young boy's need for a real family around him and in particular the need for a mother that never was. In this way it is likely to touch the hearts of those who see it. While Agresti occasionally overdoes the sentiment, it's a film which is likely to bring him greater global appeal than many of his previous works.