MANITO []

A powerhouse indie. In English and Spanish, with English subtitles. Running time: 73 minutes. Not rated (language, sex scenes). At the Quad, 13th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

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‘MANITO,” the debut feature from writer- director Eric Eason, proves you don’t need a “Hulk”-size budget to pack a powerful punch.

Employing an exemplary cast of largely nonprofessional actors and a cinéma vérité style, Eason has crafted a small, independent film that has an outsized impact.

The engine that drives “Manito” is an intense performance by newcomer Franky G., who used this 2002 Sundance Special Jury Prize winner as a launchpad for a Hollywood career, having since appeared in “Confidence” and “The Italian Job.”

He plays the central character, Junior, a charismatic womanizer pumped full of anger, who is working to vanquish the sins of his deadbeat father (Manuel Cabral), a former drug dealer.

Junior, a paint contractor who once did prison time for his dad, acts as surrogate father to his younger brother, Manito (Leo Minaya), a thoughtful young man who has just been graduated top of his class and is heading to college on a scholarship.

Manito is a beacon of hope for the Latino community of Washington Heights – which is pulling itself out of the violent drug hellhole it has wallowed in for years – but there are forces still at work in the emerging neighborhood that threaten to veto his promise.

A leisurely, scene-setting start, peppered with authentic banter and winning localized humor, fleshes out the characters in “Manito” so well you feel as if you live alongside them.