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Chicago – I first encountered Marcellus Cox in association with his stunning debut feature film “Mickey Hardaway,” a treatise on mental health and the black community. Continuing this theme in his latest short film … now on the film festival circuit … is “Liquor Bank,” a momentary black splash into alcoholism.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Eddie (Antwone Barnes) wakes up with his usual hangover, and heads for his hidden bottle. A knock on the door brings his AA sponsor Baker (Sean Alexander James), wondering why he’d missed his meeting. What follows is a give-and-take regarding Eddie’s problems in association with his drinking, which escalates into a potential violent confrontation. As he reaches the lowest point in his life, can Eddie make the right choices?

’Liquor Bank,’ Written and Directed by Marcellus Cox

Photo credit: Marcellus Cox

“Liquor Bank,” like “Mickey Hardaway,” explores an aspect of the black community that for generations has plagued families and friendships alike.

In Mickey Hardaway, a young animator's search for a mentor becomes a search for vengeance to those who he feels have failed him. The film opens with a murder of a man whose identity we later find out. Then it goes back (the timeline can be a bit confusing at times). Mickey Hardaway is director Marcellus Cox's debut, and it has done particularly well at the Las Vegas Black Film Festival. Mickey (Rashad Hunter) is a young black man from California, and not from a part that's swimming with money. As a little child, he begins to show a passion for art. It turns into a full-fledged problem when he has a grant offer from the California Institute of Art, which his father (David Chattam)...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Mickey Hardaway,” the feature film debut of Marcellus Cox, taking on the systemic mental health dysfunction in America’s black communities. In select theaters on August 9th, with digital download available September 1st.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Rashad Hunter is Mickey Hardaway, a talented artist from a working class family, which includes his no nonsense but addicted-to-anger father Randall (David Chattam). Dad doesn’t believe in art as a career, and physically/mentally abuses Mickey, until he runs away to art college at age 18. He barely gets by until an opportunity comes to syndicate his cartoons. At the same time he meets a woman named Grace (Ashley Parchment) and begins therapy with Dr. Harden (Stephen Colfield Jr.). Can they heal a broken soul in time?

”Mickey Hardaway” is in select theaters on August 9th, with digital download available September 1st. Featuring Rashad Hunter,...

The decision to go to therapy is so often the sticking point in a journey to recovery that when Mickey Hardaway (Rashad Hunter) eagerly agrees to the suggestion, made by his girlfriend Grace (Ashley Parchment), one might think that his struggles are coming to an end. As we will learn from subsequent flashbacks, Grace has been worried about his drinking and signs of depression. He’s just lost his first real job as an artist and feels as if he is condemned to failure. He’s young and talented and it shouldn’t take that much to turn him around – but there’s a darkness calling to Mickey, and he could all too easily find himself going down a dangerous road.

Adapted by Marcellus Cox from his 2020 short, and featuring a breakout performance by the same young star, this is palpably a first feature, but there are ways in which it shines.

We live in an era where people are being more than nudged to expand their awareness and explore their internal worlds. That may have been the juicy invitation — or a bit of cosmic paradox — spawned by the pandemic. Whether most people took that invitation to look inward to grow or evolve to some degree is still up for debate.

Still, a quick scan of some of the recent films to emerge from filmmakers near and far, and you can’t help but wonder if there was something hanging in the air these last few years (see also The Passenger). Themes related to trauma, grief, and abuse have found their way into many films and episodic TV storylines. One thing is clear: we’re all going through something. Or have. And that’s why the new indie film Mickey Hardaway arrives at the perfect time.

This is one of the finest,...

Today’s casting roundup includes three fantastic—and unique—on-camera opportunities for actors of all kinds. We have a martial arts thriller seeking lead and supporting talent, a feature film casting background, and more! Martial Arts Sci-fight THRILLERTalent is sought for lead, supporting and stunt double roles in a still-untitled martial arts sci-fight thriller. The short film will be in production until March in Staten Island, New York and will pay a minimum of $100/day, in addition to a bonus upon project completion. “Living”“Living,” a short film from writer-director Marcellus Cox, seeks talent for a lead and three supporting roles. The piece, depicting “the struggle to try and bridge a gap that exists between the African American community and law enforcement,” will hold auditions by appointment on Mar. 25 in New York City. Production is slated for the first weekend in June, also in New York, and will pay $100/day.