Manito

"Manito" tells of urban life in a NYC Puerto Rican hood as it follows a buff ex-con, Junior (Franky G), and his little bro, Manny (Minaya), as Manny graduates High School only to see his dreams for the future derailed. You'll find little story in this open-ended slice-of-life-in-da-hood flick which is quick to get down and dirty with family issues and personal problems. What story is in this short 78 minute flick is nothing we haven't seen before but it is very well done, especially for an indie. With kudos from all corners, "Manito" may not be for the public at large but it's grit and realism, good jiggle cam work, ethnic music, and convincing performances make it a rock solid little movie. Recommended for anyone into indie "street" flicks. Mostly English with subs for the Spanish and no CC's. (B)

A combination of unwieldy social consciousness ,melodrama, and juvenile story-telling and cinematic sensibilities, Manito is a reminder that great, simple filmmaking is NOT the result of film-school regurgitation. Any time a film comes out that deals with this same subject matter with relatively the same handling, conclusions, and a slightly different script, it is regarded as high art and hailed by critics. Sorry, folks, it's been done before, and you're not fooling me. While I appreciate the fact that Manito didn't try to come up with some false, hokey solution to the most complex of life's problems (Good Will Hunting), it fails to give any more depth to the story. Some of the acting was good, some of the writing was excellent, but it's a familiar chord progression in this sad, sad song. For gritty hyperrealism, watch Mean Streets.

This is the story of two brothers in a Latino area of a big city. The older brother has just been released from prison and is determined not to let his younger brother, Manny (the title is an affectionate nickname), follow the same path. Manny has excelled in school and is graduating from high school, but he is not home free yet.

The film takes place over 48 hours, and was filmed in 25 days in a gritty, documentary style. The actors were mostly new to film, which probably added to the realism. It's the performances that make this film, which won a Special Jury Prize for ensemble acting at Sundance. As is often the case, it's not an easy film to watch, but it's worth it. Seen at Cinequest (the San Jose, CA film festival) on 2/24/2002.

"Manito" is an independent film in every sense of the term. From the gritty lightning down to the jumpy out of focus shorts, "Manito" envelops neorealism. At a running time of not much more than an hour, the small investment required is well worth ones time. The payoff however is disappointing considering what could have been. While watching "Manito" I found myself wondering if the flow of the film was done for artistic or budgetary reasons. I cannot give credit to a film for artistic achievement when in truth it was all that it could afford. This is not to suggest that "Manito" is low budget (even though it is), in contrast, the credit instead must be given to how engrossing of a story can be created by anybody with enough ambition to do so.

In reality "Manito" isn't a feature film, it's what I consider to be a short. Technically it gets lumped in with the feature films, but when there are a number of television shows that match your running time it all becomes arbitrary. The premise behind "Manito" is that the older brother 'Junior' is trying to rebuild his life after getting out of prison while his younger brother 'Manny' is doing a good job of preventing himself from following his older siblings footsteps. The film does a good job of bringing the audience into the story and making us care about the characters, almost to a fault. I ended up caring so much about these characters that when the film was over I felt cheated that there wasn't more closure. Sure artistic license will defend the choices made, but I feel that much more was possible if another 10- 15 minutes of material was written.

My complaints are actually quite minute when it comes down to overall enjoyment. The dialog while far from creative is grounded and delivered with great emotion that makes me care as much as they do. 'Junior' is the star of the film and carries much of the weight. The viewer can't help but feel like he's really doing everything he can to make right on his life despite still being human and showcasing flaws that many of us without records posses.

In the end, "Manito" is another example of how powerful nature is in our development. No matter what our plan may be for our life. No matter how well we execute our plan. Our environment is likely to win-out in the end. Fortunate people in destructive environments who allow themselves to fall victim to circumstance are a cautionary tale for the rest of us to never take our good-fortune for granted.

Read this and other reviews at my website: CD1083.com

I just watched this film for my Latin-American Cinemas class. I wasn't overly impressed with "Manito," but it is a good film with a realistic, inspired feel. I can tell Eric Eason based the script on real-life experiences, and didn't simply recycle old Hollywood crap. The narrative definitely has uniqueness. The scene on the subway train, where Manny is with his girlfriend and two hoodlums taunt them, is an extremely powerful scene with no cheap cinematic devices. Since it's shot guerilla-style on hand-held digital camera (don't quote me if I'm wrong), there are no pretentious extreme close-ups or anything like that. We're simply taken in by the drama of the situation. The acting is good, though I don't suppose many of the actors were playing characters that drifted from their regular personalities. Franky G, who plays the lead, is a fine actor and it's nice to see that he moved onto bigger movies like "Confidence" and "The Italian Job." All in all, the film is not highly memorable, but it was written and directed from the heart, which is what I appreciated and why I could forgive little flaws like the clumsy lighting (since most of it was natural light that really didn't do the job). Also, I could've done without the heavy-handed symbolism of the train coming in during the opening titles and moving out at the conclusion.

My score: 7 (out of 10)