Vote for Me (2006)

Genres - Comedy  |   Sub-Genres - Political Satire  |   Countries - United States  |  
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

A cranky janitor tired of governmental red tape turns a special election into a horse race in this independent political satire. Leo Meruchal (Ricardo Barber) is the elderly superintendent of a decaying brownstone in a Latin American neighborhood in Manhattan. Leo is a chronically grumpy man who doesn't like his job and is having a hard time looking after his mother, who is waiting out a terminal illness in a local hospital. Leo would prefer to care for his mother at home, but bureaucracy prevents it, and when he learns that a seat in Congress has suddenly become vacant, Leo impulsively decides to run. While a grouchy man waving a mop and plastering homemade signs around the neighborhood wouldn't seem to have much of a future in politics, his two competitors in the race are just inept enough -- and Leo's no-nonsense attitude and winning habit of breaking into song are refreshing enough -- that for a moment it looks like the old man might just pull off the political upset of a lifetime. Vote for Me was the first feature from writer and director Nelson Antonio Denis, a former East Harlem assemblyman who was inspired to make the film after his own unsuccessful run for Congress.