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1 item from 2002

1 July 2002 | The Hollywood Reporter | See recent The Hollywood Reporter news »

IFP/West Lost Angeles Film Festival

Winner of a special mention In Competition at the Tribeca Film Festival, Mexico-born Alfredo De Villa's feature debut is a labor of love set in the titular Manhattan Island neighborhood, where an up-and-coming comic book artist (Manny Perez) is forced to take over the family bodega when his father (Tomas Milian) is crippled by a gun-touting robber. On the verge of breaking away from the largely Dominican immigrant neighborhood, the moody lead grudgingly adjusts to circumstances.

But along with a less-than-rosy relationship with his girl (Andrea Navedo), the lead's best friend (Danny Hoch) is a dangerously naive dreamer who wants to be a professional bowler -- if he can just find the money to get to that tournament in Las Vegas. Despite all the obstacles, success comes his way, and Perez's eager-to-move-downtown innocent is easily seduced by the woman (Callie Thorne) who publishes his first comic. Life and art merge, helping the just-wants-to-be-creative hero forge ahead.

When the film shows the awkwardness of the lead's caregiver relationship with his cranky father, De Villa finds material that's compelling, but such complications as the girlfriend's violent brother going ballistic and tragedy ensuing are rugged cliches.

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1 item from 2002