Product Details

• Actors: Jaime Tirelli, Tammy Trull, Blanca Camacho, Gabriel Salvador, Romi Dias
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Xenon
• VHS Release Date: May 11, 2004
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001EQI38
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #598,539 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

French director Felix Olivier explores the very few options an at-risk Latino teen must choose between in his 2002 film All Night Bodega. Venus (Tammy Trull) gets arrested for a crime she had nothing to do with. While in a holding cell at city jail, she gains an ally in street tough Juanita (Romi Dias) who watches over Venus and protects her from the other miscreants in their cell. Fortunately for Venus, her foster mother Eta (Blanca Camacho) has been dating undercover cop Ralph (Jaime Tirelli) -- who gets Venus released from jail. When she gets home, however, she and Eta get into a fight that prompts the youngster to move out. In desperation, Venus reunites with the recently freed Juanita and the two become romantically involved -- which also results in Venus gaining membership in Juanita's gang. Venus later begins to have second thoughts when she crosses paths with Ralph's rookie partner (Gabriel Salvador). All Night Bodega premiered at the New York International Latino Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little glimpse of harsh reality, May 22, 2004

By 

ARLENE PALERMO (Waterbury, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ALL NIGHT BODEGA (DVD)

I rented this movie yesterday and am now going to purchase it. As a Latina who was a) a runaway, b) a teen mother and c) part of a street gang, all of what goes on in this movie hit me hard. Venus Castro is a 15 year old girl who is having a bad day...actually, just an extension of what has been a bad life. Taken in at the age of nine by her biological father and stepmom, but also as a foster child, her confusing beginning lends to the dissatisfaction she feels with her life. Her stepmother has been good to her, but seemingly always throwing the fact that she has raised another woman's child in Venus' face. Complicating this already twisted family scenario is that when the movie begins, Venus' dad has died only the week before, and her setpmother is actually relieved. Still not giving up on Venus, the two have to try and figure out what kind of relationship they now have. As we enter the movie, Venus is having a bad day. Enticed by street life but knowing little of the realities of it, Venus is torn by wanting to be close to her stepmom but resenting her just the same. Problems at school are thrown into the mix, and Venus seems depressed and confused. Her stepmother goes out on a date with a cop (less than a month after her dad dies) and the stepmother catches Venus playing with an empty gun her little brother brought home, the same day. After that, she is caught by police and arrested because she just happened to be walking in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her stepmother doesn't believe her innocence, and an argument takes place in which the stepmom voices resentments that have probably been building for a very long time. Venus takes to the streets and is confronted by one situation after another, which she is ill equipped to deal with. She makes one bad choice after another. She is raped, and then further victimized by older people around her who can't see past their own selfish needs. The ending of the movie leaves you wondering what Venus will do next. I found this movie to be a powerful, realistic view of the things that can happen, how one bad decision can snowball into a situation that you can't control. I recommend this to parents with teens. The images are harsh and disturbing at times, but in this day and age sometimes the jolt is the difference in the decisions your kids will make. I also think the movie gives a good inside glimpse into the complicated, difficult, but livable dynamics of inner city Hispanic families. The entire movie appears to have been filmed in New York (I could actually pinpoint where they were on several occasions) and the grittiness of the areas Tourists don't actually want to visit makes the movie all the more realistic. The soundtrack is also great. Highly recommended!

3.0 out of 5 stars This situation is not a comedy, January 18, 2009

By 

R. Bagula "Roger L. Bagula" (Lakeside, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ALL NIGHT BODEGA (DVD)

The failure of big city social services and the foster care network
is told as a tragedy here in which the life of a young girl spirals through homelessness, rape, gang membership to a final in robbery.
In her degradation two undercover cops have a big role, one time in a police sweep introduces her to a lesbian gang leader and her foster mother is just not good enough to be any help.

4.0 out of 5 stars All Night Bodega: trying to make it in a NYC barrio, April 29, 2004

By 

D. R. Rodriguez (United States of America) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ALL NIGHT BODEGA (DVD)

I recently purchased this movie and have to admit, it was quite an interesting movie. This particular movie unfolds with the life of a young Latina Venus Castro played by Tammy Trull. She is frustrated with not making it: at home, in school, in the neighborhood, absent father and mother, and, not making it in foster care.

Venus leaves home due to an incident, she was arrested for being at the wrong place and wrong time. Her foster care mother is fed up with excuses, even legitimate ones, and an explosive argument takes on a new form, in which Venus leaves home.

From her departure, Venus is on her own. She trusts a man to take her in to only be raped by one of the men in the apartment. She gets taken in by a young woman who was also in the same cell as her; this woman is about the street hustle. Venus starts to deal drugs to survive; she gets caught up in a maze of confusion and eventually gets involved in a store hold up.

I would recommend this movie for its entertainment value as well as for its sociological understanding on troubled youths trying to make it in a Latino barrio against the odds of equal chances of survival.