By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Minhal Baig
Starring: Avery Holliday | Blake Cameron James | David Folsom | Giovani Chambers | Lil Rel Howery
Year: 2024
Running time: 93
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28639049/reference/
Chris says: “Set in a re-creation of the now-demolished high rise towers of the notorious Chicago housing project Cabrini-Green in 1992, Minhal Baig’s film focuses on two 12-year-old boys living there: Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez). When not partaking in such activities as pushing a mattress down a dozen flights of stairs to use as a playground implement or playing hooky from school to explore the Loop, they’re faced with the harsher realities of this world: drug-ridden crime, drive-by shootings, reactionary police raids. As Malik’s mother Delores (Jurnee Smollet) looks for a safer environment for her family, what was once an inseparable friendship between the two boys begins to fray. While it doesn’t come close to achieving the rare poetry of obvious influences such as KILLER OF SHEEP or the fourth season of THE WIRE, this evokes a time and place in vivid enough detail (especially in the dimly lit, sparsely furnished apartments); James and Ramirez, both in their film debuts are also well cast. Still, it’s a type of story that’s been told many times before and far less predictably. 3 cats
“Screened at TIFF 2023; Sony Pictures Classics will distribute (date TBD).”