| Casi casi | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jaime Vallés Tony Vallés |
| Produced by | Jaime Vallés Tony Vallés |
| Written by | Jaime Vallés Tony Vallés |
| Starring | Marian Pabón Mario Pabón Irene Lucio Fernando Castro - Álvarez Alexis Arce Ricardo Arias Marisa Gómez Maite Cantó Manuel Benítez Albert Rodríguez Tino García |
| Release date(s) | 2006 |
| Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | Puerto Rico |
| Language | Spanish |
Casi, Casi (in English, Almost, Almost) is a 2006 Puerto Rican film, written and directed by brothers Jaime and Tony Vallés. It received a theatrical release in Puerto Rico in early 2007.
The film takes place in a Catholic school in Puerto Rico where the main character, Emilio, is infatuated with Jacklynne, the most popular girl in school. In an attempt to win her over, he decides to run for Student Council President to impress her, only to discover that Jacklynne herself will be his adversary. Emilio then devises a plan, together with his friends, to rig the election and lose on purpose. All this without being caught by strict school Principal Richardson (Marian Pabón).
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Casi [cah'-se], adv. means: Almost, nearly, somewhat more or less; just. Casi que or casi casi, Very nearly.
Emilio is a normal teenager who somehow finds himself being sent to the principal's office every other week. He has a crush on Jacklynne, the most popular girl in school, so he decides to run for Student Council President in order to impress her. After announcing his candidacy, Emilio discovers, to his horror, that Jacklynne herself will be running for office against him. Emotions fly high as campaign fever intensifies. Not wanting to lose his chance to win her heart, Emilio devises a risky plan that could come to a disastrous end if the tyrannous school principal gets wind of his scheme.
First-time directors, Jaime and Tony Vallés, had some experience working in theater. However, they had never made a movie before. They then set out to learn everything they needed about it through books and the Internet [1]
To achieve this, they approached the members of their own family for help, among them Puerto Rican actress, Marian Pabón, and Mario Pabón. Most of the cast are unexperienced actors taken directly from school with the intention of giving naturality and spontaneity to the film [2].
The auditions for the teenage cast were held in three private schools from San Juan, Puerto Rico:
None of the actors chosen for the parts had any previous experience in films. The directors had some troubles with some of the actors. For example, Ricardo Arias originally didn't want to do the film. The directors, however, managed to persuade him. Also, the role of María Eugenia was given to another actress who left the film a few days after filming began. It was then that Marian Pabón suggested Irene Lucio to audition and play the role.
To minimize expenses, all of the cast had to provide their own wardrobe, except for the school uniform shirts.
Despite being a low-budget film, it has received much critical praise from audiences around the world. Ronnie Scheib (Variety magazine) gave the film a very favorable review [3]. Joe Baltake, of the Philadelphia Film Festival compared it with Mean Girls and Clueless [4].