Manito's burden
A Dominican American community struggles for a better life in post-Giuliani New York

MANITO, A savvy, rousing, cinema verité-style first feature by native New Yorker Eric Eason, turns 48 hours of life in a Dominican American community in post-Giuliani NYC into an exposé of the American dream.

Two very different brothers share a bond forged by their parents' absence (their father is a heartless drug dealer; their mother, long dead). Junior Moreno (Franky G.) is a brash, hot-tempered ex-con endowed with swooning good looks, a penchant for seducing the ladies, and enough hustle instinct to make a quasi-legitimate living as an unlicensed painting contractor. Then there's Manny (Leo Minaya), Junior's college-bound younger brother.

The movie opens with a montage of handheld footage strung together by a phone call. Manny's graduating at the top of his class, and abuelo (Héctor González) wants to know if Junior has paid the rental hall for the party yet. Junior's small son screams as Junior steps out of the shower and yells at beleaguered wife Miriam (Julissa López) to find the Wite-Out, then bolts out the door. He hires a group of unemployed Mexican busboys-valet parking attendants as his painting crew (accounting for their odd attire – black pants, white shirts, and bow ties – by saying they're restoration experts from Mexico City who take great pride in their professionalism). He blots out the original name on a business insurance certificate and hustles up the extra cash in the nick of time.

The whole neighborhood comes out for the party: children, old folks, teachers, jaw-dropping muñequotas decked out in hoop earrings and strappy dresses, and handsome men in silk shirts and fedora hats. Top-of-the-charts band Fulanito provides live narco-merengue. Despite an unwelcome appearance by the boys' father (Manuel Cabral), who's hastily escorted to the curb, the party ends on a high note.

But while Junior spends the night with a check-cashing girl he buttered up earlier that day, Manny and his high school crush, Marisol (Jessica Morales) – a sexy and street-smart single mom – brave a harrowing encounter on the subway. The incident sparks a chain of events that spells doom for Manny – and, through him, the aspirations of a whole community. But it's Junior who might have to pay the highest toll.

Eason and his crew transform digital video into high art through the masterful application of relatively basic techniques. Off-kilter shots and handheld cinematography portray disjunctive lives and a city constantly in motion. Stuttered zooms and background noise relay a home-movie authenticity. Emotionally loaded scenes find expression through subtle visual indicators and an original score.

In the end Manito communicates an intimate, firsthand familiarity with the city's Caribbean immigrant community as it demonstrates how Giuliani's crackdown on crime has done little to stem the vicious cycle of violence and despair in the city's sprawling, working-class colonies.

Director Eason and producers Jesse Scolaro and Allen Bain, founders of independent production company the 7th Floor, managed to piece together the movie with meager resources (an initial $24,000 budget). Since then Manito has made a splash on the film circuit: a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for its ensemble cast, a considerable accomplishment considering most of its main roles are played by novices. (Neither Franky G. nor Jessica Morales had ever acted before. G. worked odd jobs as a bouncer and security man prior to the making of the movie, and Morales holds down a day job as a medical assistant. Both 17-year-old Minaya's and López's prior acting experience was limited at best.) In Austin, Manito was awarded a Grand Jury Prize at the South by Southwest festival. It premiered in New York to sold-out screenings at the TriBeCa Film Festival, where it earned Eason the Best Emerging Filmmaker prize.

The accolades are well deserved. With Manito, Eason and his team have drawn a compelling portrait of a community struggling in the shadow of familial dysfunction and a society that continues to turn its back.

C.T.