Little Valentino


Little Valentino, also known as The Little Valentino, is a 1979 Hungarian drama film written and directed by András Jeles, in his directorial debut.

Plot

Cast

  • János Opoczki as László
  • István Iványi as Józsikám
  • József Farkas as Idõ's taxi driver
  • Dénes Ladányi as Dénes
  • Belane Szekacs as Amál
  • Ferencné Lévai as Irén
  • Sándorné Árpa as László's mother
  • Iván Molnár as Sr. Frész
  • Oszkár Ipacs as Quiosquer

    Release

The film was screened at the 36th Venice International Film Festival, in the Officina Veneziana sidebar.

Reception

A contemporary Variety review described the film as 'nicely acted, well handled but essentially playoff actioner', a film that 'at first full of sharp observation', but 'finally drifts into aimlessness'.
In a retrospective review for Chicago Reader, Pat Graham described the film as 'an aggressively experimental film, elliptical in the manner of the old New [Wave cinema|New Wave]', paired it to Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise, and remarked that 'it’s hard not to be impressed by its on-the-edge assurance'.
The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema noted that the film 'provoked both scandal and an enthusiastic reception', particularly for its use of docu-fiction style, pushed in 'an absurd-surrealist direction, constructing by the film's end a gloomy atmosphere of reality'.