FRESH
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Sean Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson, N'Bushe Wright, Luis Lantigua. Screenplay/Director: Boaz Yakin.
The recent commercial and critical success of such urban-themed films as BOYS N THE HOOD and MENACE II SOCIETY is proving to be a strange double-edged sword. While they have inspired more films focused on inner city life, there seems to be a developing perception among mainstream moviegoers that they are more or less interchangeable, that if you've seen one film with urban kids shooting at each other, you've seen them all. Not only does this perception perpetuate the idea that there is only one story to tell about the inner cities, but it can force some fantastic films to the margins before they even have a chance. Witness FRESH, a powerful urban drama that ranks among the year's best and most devastating works.
FRESH is the street tag of Michael (Sean Nelson), a twelve-year-old New York youth with a dream of making it out of the projects. He slowly builds an impressive roll of cash by making deliveries for heroin dealer Esteban (Giancarlo Esposito), as well as selling crack on the streets. However, he soon finds himself in trouble from every direction. He is a witness to a murder committed by a short-fused neighborhood tough (Jean LaMarre), and is in danger of going back to a group home when his aunt disapproves of his activities. Fearing for his very life, Fresh begins applying the chess lessons of his absentee father (Samuel L. Jackson) to a plan to make his dream a reality.
FRESH easily could have been just another drama about drugs n the hood, but what makes it truly harrowing is its focus on pre-teenagers. Fresh is smart enough to realize that the trash talk of the streets means nothing, but for his classmates, particularly the loud-mouthed Chuckie (Luis Lantigua), it is a rite of passage. By mimicking the language that surrounds them, even as they discuss baseball cards and comic books, they become part of the cycle before they even realize it. The words themselves at a certain point become meaningless, particularly when Chuckie tries to convince Esteban that he too should make deliveries because he's "got all the dope moves." Writer-director Boaz Yakin creates a portrait of doomed youth that is gripping and gut-churning.
The centerpiece of this study is a stunning performance by young Sean Nelson as Fresh. There is not a moment when he rings false, his eyes betraying a sadness beyond his years and a burning intelligence. His reaction to one of the film's pivotal scenes, involving a shootout in a schoolyard, is jaw-dropping, and it's only one of many wrenching moments he has to carry. The film's third act only works because we believe that Fresh is so sharp and observant, and the final scene only works because we understand how much he wishes it hadn't been necessary. As FRESH ends, Michael's street tag takes on a bitter irony as his "freshness" disappears.
Nelson gets more than enough assistance from a superb supporting cast. Samuel L. Jackson plays Fresh's father with a shaky dignity, one that doesn't require an explicit explanation as to why he is not Fresh's guardian. Though similar to Laurence Fishburne's character in SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER, it's more layered, and more imbued with history. Giancarlo Esposito is a subtle and complex figure as Esteban, and delivers a skin-crawling scene as he describes his lust for Fresh's sister while cradling his infant daughter. From top to bottom the performers do just a little more than you might expect, turning the stereotype into a flesh and blood character.
In many ways, FRESH is an extremely pessimistic film, and as such will be difficult to watch. It is about innocence corrupted, described in shocking detail with no punches pulled. I left FRESH with my mouth literally hanging open, affected to the bone by a spectacular piece of storytelling.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 dope moves: 10.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews