Raising Victor Vargas

While in L.A. in the spring of 2003, there was a movie dancing around independent and art-house theaters that I never caught. I wanted to see it, but just hadn't gotten around to it. It's funny when people like me start to feel bad about not seeing movies they know they should see. Anyways, this past spring, my sister and I rented "Raising Victor Vargos" and only got through about 30 minutes of it before I took her look of 'what are we watching?' to heart. I politely stopped it and was frustrated that I had rented a movie that I knew I wouldn't end up finishing that weekend.

Last night though, I was scanning channels and saw the movie playing on HBO and surprisingly it was exactly where I had left off. So I watched and slowly liked the movie more and more as it went along.

I won't say much b/c I've already blabbed too much, but this is a coming-of-age story about a young high school kid who wants to be in love. The cast is luminous, with a flare for realism both in looks and speech, however, it never becomes dull or uninteresting. These kids are living here in America, but most of us haven't had the chance to see them. So here it is. And just a little hint if you plan to go rent it: blockbuster has it for sale for $4.99 right now on previously viewed DVD so if you want, you could just buy it and if you don't like it you could return it back / trade it in for $5 of blockbuster credit...meaning, it would be a freebie. Just a suggestion. (Oh and if you do rent it, look for Victor and his real life brother who plays his brother in the film...their subtle relationship is one of the more endearing parts of the film...even though it's not the primary focus of the story).