Mil uno

A social drama that is not as predictable as first thought. Fashion model, actress and artist Teyana Taylor stars as the restless and determined Inez. I have never seen her in a film role before, but I can say that she carries this film to a great extent. The film is written by A. V. Rockvell, who also directs. The film largely succeeds in being an engaging drama about an era from the mid-90s and 10 years into the future. The film depicts difficult social conditions, this time the action is set in New York. The liberating thing about the film is that even though the main character faces a lot of opposition and is far down the ladder financially and socially, she never gives up. The film could easily have ended as a description of misery, but Teyana makes sure to give life and commitment to the main character who appears as a primal force who fights fiercely for what she believes in.

I won't reveal the surprising element here, but I'm looking forward to upcoming films from A. V. Rockwell. We need films that give us insight into exciting characters. Not everything has to be popcorn movies.

The first 10-15 minutes of this film had me wriggling in my seat and wondering if I was going to be able to sit through it. It starts with the central character, Inez, a hard-faced inmate leaving Riker's Island and re-starting her life back in New York after an unspecified prison term. Inez is clearly a tough cookie and even her first meeting her son Terry on the street had me silently screaming "run, kid, run!" It turns out that Terry had been put in foster care and, when he ends up in hospital shortly after, Inez goes to visit him and decides to kidnap him from the authorities under whose care he had been placed.

However, I found myself getting sucked in to the story, as grim and sometimes hard to watch as it was. Here we had a woman who had nothing - no money, no home and few prospects - grabbing a child because she somehow believed she could give him a better life. Her first act after snatching him was to phone around former acquaintances to beg for a free place to stay and it was truly heartbreaking to watch her desperation and the glimpse of the life she had brought this child into.

Yet she manages to get on her feet and the rest of the movie follows her, Terry and the man she marries, Lucky, as they if not thrive certainly survive. As compelling as the human characters become, there is another star of this film and that is the New York neighbourhood of Harlem. With the liberal use of overhead shots and long street scenes we see the neighbourhood go from grungy through a gradual gentrification. This is reflected more intimately in a sub plot where their new landlord tries to manipulate the family out of their low rent home, and leave them with fallen ceilings, broken pipes and a non-functioning shower.

There is a plot twist at the end that made my jaw drop which I see some people didn't like, but which I thought fleshed out the character of Inez quite well and gave depth to her motivations. All in all a gritty movie that was hard to watch in some places, a raw and honest depiction of the brutal poverty in which people sometimes live, but underscored by excellent performance by all.

"Why do you keep leaving me?" Terry ( Aaron Kingsley Adetola)

While this lament in the remarkable A Thousand and One is from a 6-year-old Harlem kid to his ex-con mother, Inez (Teyana Taylor), it stands for those who regret the quickly gentrifying part of NYC that is losing its black identity to white incursions.

So goes one of the best dramas of the year as that feisty mom steals the son she lost from a foster home to create a home that she regularly leaves to fight for with "no tools" other than her remarkable energy and combativeness. As we navigate the many episodes of her fight and watch her Terry grow into an intelligent albeit muted young man, first-time writer/ director A. V. Rockwell nimbly shows the changes overcoming Harlem in the nineties and the young Terry during 15 years rising academically to qualify for NYC's noted tech schools. As in Moonlight, we see a seamless transition among the three actors in the three stages of Terry's life.

One of the stars of this accurate and humane melodrama is DP Erik K. Yue, whose lens captures the changes with a sharp eye for the telling detail, like graffiti and corporate businesses replacing long-lost street artistry and bodega charm. Not needing such eye-pleasing photography are the aggressive policing tactics, notably the stop-and-frisk action that affected young black males more than any other minority. When Terry is accosted, his muted reaction emphasizes the quiet terror that dogged young men in nineties Harlem.

Not all is gloom in A Thousand and One, for Lucky (William Catlett, a combo of Idris Elba and Delroy Lindo) exemplifies strong black males with big hearts and the flaws that too-often accompany such gifts. Lucky marries Inez perhaps not realizing the collateral damage mother and son can inflict. Yet, he does contribute to their welfare, mostly in wise counsel. For Terry, he provides the impetus to make his own decisions. As in the drama itself, Lucky shows that tough conditions accompany a tough life, and self-reliance, like Mom's, is the key to eventual deliverance.

My guest critic on It's Movie Time, Mindy Mcfann, claims this is the best movie she's seen in years. Pay attention to her-she has impeccable taste about street drama.

Premiering at Sundance, A Thousand and One tells the story of a mother and son, navigating against hardship, the weight of New York City policies, gentrification, and a secret. There's a feeling of tension throughout the film, waiting for what may happen to Inez and Terry, though it also evokes the edge and breathlessness that comes with living with the weight of poverty and NYC racism. For its beats about NYC history, the film serves reminders of the barriers faced by Black families in Harlem in 1990's and into 2000's. If there is a criticism, there are moments when the script could have been tighter, perhaps a bit more time with Terry. Teyona Taylor is a star for carrying so much of the emotional weight across this film, but also William Catlett as Lucky plus Josiah Cross and Aaron Kingsley Adetola as Terry are stellar.

This features quite a strong performance from a convincing Teyana Taylor. She is "Inez" who decides that she wants to reclaim her young son "Terry" from his life on the streets of New York. What now ensues illustrates quite well the difficulties they both face as they both grow up with little by way of opportunity - or money - but determined to stick together despite their not always seeing eye to eye. Along the way, she marries "Lucky" (William Catlett), a decent man who offers some stability and it begins to look like "Terry" (by this stage played by Josiah Cross, but played well as a child by Aaron Kingsley Adetola) might just have a chance. Thing is, as the audience know by now, the relationship between mother and son is not as it seems - and the impending action of the authorities, coupled with a rather unscrupulous landlord, look like the wrecking ball is en route to their dreams. It meanders a bit too much for me, this film. It could have easily lost twenty minutes and the writing could have focussed better on developing the "Terry" character a little more, but it's still quite a powerful assessment of family values, loyalty and civic indifference that ought to make anyone sit up and take notice. It doesn't need a big screen - but is worth a watch on the telly.