Valentin

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Valentin ★★½ 2002 (PG-13)

Valentin is the overly adorable, 9yearold, hornrimmed glasses wearing hero of Agresti's semiautobiographical drama set in 1960s Buenos Aires. Valentin (Noya) lives with his kooky grandmother (Maura) after being abandoned by his mother and playboy father, (director Agresti) who have long separated. Valentin attempts to rebuild his family by playing Cupid with his dad's current girlfriend, the beautiful and attentive Leticia (Cardinali) while simultaneously charming and inspiring various local, hardened grownups. The precocious boy is also an aspiring astronaut, a fact which allows him to dress up in a farlessthan homemade looking get-up and look cute, which he does for far too much of this sometimes saccharine heart-tugger. Does boast some genuinely touching moments. 86m/C DVD . AR NL Carmen Maura, Rodrigo Noya, Alejandro Agresti, Jean Pierre Noher, Mex Urtizberea, Julieta Cardinali; D: Alejandro Agresti; W: Alejandro Agresti; C: Jose Luis Cajaraville; M: Luis Salinas, Paul M. van Brugge.