Washington Heights

Starring Tomas Milian and Manny Perez – 'Washington Heights' is a low budget drama set in a Latino neighborhood in NYC.

A young comic-book artist (Manny Perez) wants to escape his Latino neighborhood. When his father is crippled by a robber's gunshot, the young man is forced to run the family bodega.

The movie was shot in a budget (low resolution video and poor audio) with low profile actors.

The plot flowed well for 85 minutes but the last 5 minutes were just terrible. We don't know for sure if Perez and his girlfriend remained together and if Angel ended-up in jail for the shooting.

4/10

I loved this film from the moment La Vida es un Carnival started till the end. It avoids so many of the cliches that other immigrant stories fall prey to, and instead gives us a real snapshot of the lives of a handful of characters in this New York neighborhood. I can't stand films where everything is so neatly wrapped up and by the end all of the characters' conflicts are resolved. Instead, this film let's us see a handful of very alive characters fight to pursue their dreams against the barriers of their families, history, loves, and, most importantly, themselves. By the conclusion, we don't know all the answers of where they'll be, but we know who they are, and we care about them immensely. Nat Moss and Alfredo de Villa deserve a huge round of applause for having written such a touching and compelling story.

The movie is also beautifully shot, with de Villa's hand adding to the text as all great directors do. In one fantastic scene, we see one of the characters joyfully announce his engagement, ask for help from his friend, and have his friend reveal that he cannot help due to a debt between their fathers. The character then responds in anger to the fact that his father would help his friend, but not his own son. As tightly as the scene is written, it is shot equally well, with the camera following the characters through the bodega, keeping up their increasing intensity. The shooting adds to the scene immensely. There is also a beautiful sequence that is set up over many very brief earlier moments where we see a real transformation in the main character's artistic direction (he is a cartoon artist). I was struck while watching it how hard it is to show in a film the growth of an artist, or even the creative process. Yet here de Villa does so brilliantly, making it completely believeable.

Finally, the acting in this film is fantastic. As the star Carlos of the film, Manny Perez wonderfully alternates, like his neighborhood, between the high energy of his ambition, the frustration (and ultimate satisfaction) of his family ties, and his ambivalence about where he belongs. Tomas Milian turns in an Oscar-worthy performance as the father/bodega owner. And numerous smaller roles reveal potential stars, including Danny Hoch, who is brilliant from start to finish, and Bobby Carnavale, who steals the screen nearly every moment he's on it.

It took a while to get into this film and its movement and its characters, but I got there and was never lost for a moment in a very complex story of many tiers and personalities -- all within a seemingly simple entry-level USA neighborhood.

I assume the movie was whot in 16mm film and/or digitial video, and once again, a low budget does not mean a poor story. The direction and editing worked well in a story where the ensemble cast was homogeneous and perfect.

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.

I really liked this film mostly because i can relate with the main character, being latino and his situation with his art. Heights is a good film but it suffers from some mayor flaws. The simple fact is that the audience is cut off to the emotional climax. The reason? Bad editing? perhaps. Even though we get some climax with the father and son character, the relationship of the two lovers never comes to fruit actually their problems are never fully explained. This left me at least confused by the death of their relationship. Lack of resolution seems to be the main flaw of this movie, the conflict between the best friend and his father was never resolved. I know its hard to put all of this in the film since the film makers wanted to leave enough room about the main character and his father but perhaps these other situations should not have been brought up since it only leads away from the core of this movie. In the end Washington Heights is a good film and i would recomend it and im sorry to see that it was overlooked by some critics.

"Washington Heights" is a gritty slice of life and death in a New York City neighborhood near the George Washington Bridge. A young artist and illustrator is struggling to find his place and work and has female problems as well. After his father, a bodega owner, is shot and paralyzed by a robber, the artist must take over the store, and discovers other problems, one of which shows him some direction. A good storyline, editing, and performances make this film a success. I did not feel like a distant observer--I was drawn in quickly--a good sign.