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The words that drip from Junior Moreno's tongue burn with ethnocentric self-loathing that the burly Latin American shows no awareness of while sitting behind the driver's seat of an illegal contract work van and spewing forth a diatribe about Mexicans who come to America to make enough money to go back. He punches a finger towards the ground and declares that New York will always be his home. Despite the obvious signs of New York trying to negate his presence within the socio-political mainframe, Junior latches onto the U.S. terra like it will really offer up its shores to his tired and his poor. In the next scene, he finagles his way behind a white woman, who offers herself with skirt hiked high, to the thrusts of desperation. Junior's story, along with his younger brother, Manny Moreno, struggling to keep their heads above the downward pressure of life in New York's ethnic enclave is shot in the grainy and shaky aesthetic of a hand-held camera and ushers in a different perspective of the Latin gaze. Try as it might, however, Manito pans out as more of an anti-climatic student film than a cutting edge view of ethnic struggle in a big city.

How much has ethnic cinema moved forward since John Singleton broke ground with Boyz in tha Hood? Have we really not moved forwards since the early 1980's when a story about two brothers trying to make it in the city without a reliable father would be considered fresh material? Junior (Franky G.) is the sinewy embodiment of urban ethnic angst with his staccato vocabulary and constant leers at women. Besides hustling jobs to feed his family and partaking in the recreational hobby of sleeping with other women, Junior is dedicated to securing the success of his younger brother, Manny (Leo Minaya).

The film documents the unraveling of two days celebrating Manny's graduation from high school as salutatorian of his class and his journey off to college. Different members of the family bustle with activity in preparation for the unprecedented event. In a place where most young men fall into hustling drugs or the state penitentiary, a success story warrants a massive celebration. A collaborative effort from the community, Manny's send-off party throbs with local color and the meringue sounds of the Dominican band `Fulanito,' whose performance is really the highlight of the film.

Irregardless of its cinema veritè style, Manito features some of the most monotonous and amateur acting not seen since Star Wars became prequels. Franky G. does have screen presence with his chiseled and angular features, but it's the same appeal that Vin Diesel radiates on the big screen - he's a rather striking man, but there's no breadth or depth to his character or his acting abilities. His anger is not the inborn rage of a man beaten down by the system, but cued by the director, Eric Eason and exploding over in appropriate fits of rage. New-comer Minaya delivers a lukewarm performance as the intellectually superior embodiment of hope for the impoverished community. To achieve the veritè style, many of the actors, including the actor who played the titular main character, had no prior professional experience. As a result, the shaky and visually ugly film is further dragged down by stone-faced performances.

The only outstanding performance is given by Hector Gonzalez as the abuelo-grandfather-struggling to negotiate the system even in his old age. The benevolent softness of his features is undercut with scenes of him sitting amongst haggard hookers in a brothel hoping to sell a suitcase full of lingerie while his social security check arrived in the mail. Gonzalez is one of the few veteran actors on cast.

Gonzalez's sound performance did not save the film from wallowing in its own pointlessness. The patrilineal story builds up to an ending that leaves the audience wondering why there was such build-up for that let down. Manito has garnered much critical acclaim including the Special Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Written and directed by neophyte Eric Eason, perhaps he should consider allowing someone else to write the script next time. Just to swing for the fences, perhaps a cast of real actors with real screen presence and the ability to conjure up more than one speech inflection would be a huge step forward. Although, that means not being able to feature Ben Affleck as your lead.

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