Fresh

I watched 'Fresh' again recently, with several other examples of

its genre (urban crime drama, or words to that effect). It

stands out head and shoulders above the rest as an engaging and

intelligent film. Part of 'Fresh's strength is that it belies

many of the genre's expected conventions. Rap music is vaguely

incidental, giving way to a poignant soundtrack by Stewart

Copeland. For once, gang life, alcoholism, and drug addiction

are never glamourized as they are simultaneously condemned...

the fault of so many films which purport to be morally aware of

the destructive nature of these things (but seem to say,

backhandedly, "isn't T-Bone a badd mutha, though?") And as

another reviewer noted, the central character as an intellectual

prodigy is neither a joke nor a gimmick, his mind is the means

of his survival and eventually his triumph over the forces

around him. The cast is excellent, the standouts being an

extraordinary debut by Sean Nelson as the Fresh and the reliable

Samuel L. Jackson as his alcoholic speed-chess-master father.

The final scene is one of the most devastating and memorable

scenes in the last decade of films. The sincerity and unpredictability of 'Fresh' are unparalleled in films of its

type.

Many comments confirm the strength of this movie in simple manipulation of an camera eye. Well, that's true. You will not find any fancy FXs here. But, does it make the picture less spectacular? Of course not. Script is brilliant. Whole plot resembles well played chess game telling the story about violence and losing innocence. This is not only a game in an explicit chess meaning. Main characters , wonderfully played by S. L. Jackson and Sean Nelson, are playing chess with themselves, struggling with their lives. There is another aspect of chess game that accompanies the plot till the end. Throughout duration of the movie chess puzzle gets clear. We can finally see where 'Fresh' is heading to and what he wants to achieve through his plan. Anyway, Boaz Yakin made one of the best movies of 94' , really worth seeing.

Mariusz Pelka

This movie didn't have to rely on BIG NAMES to make this movie great. It didn't have to rely on lots of on screen killing to be great. This movie was great because the dialog between the characters as well as the screen play were excellent all by themselves. The people who did play the parts DID justice to the characters they played. As the movie started and in the first 15 minutes, all I could think was this kid (Sean Nelson) was a punk trying to make a buck. I didn't realize, like most, until the end of the film what this kid was actaully doing, which was playing everyone like they were live chess pieces. He got what he wanted all by playing one against the other. This movie proved that a film does not have to be high budget or big names to be great. If that were the case, The Last Action Hero or Reindeer Games should win an OSCARS for Best Movie.

"Fresh" (Nelson), the title character and a black kid in his early teens, is a runner for low level drug distributors in the mean streets of NYC with a plan to get out of the ghetto. He plays speed chess with his estranged father and stashes money in a tin can but his plan goes well beyond just saving for a bus ticket. "Fresh" offers good production value, par performances, somewhat stereotypical characters, and lots of grit. However, what sets this critically lauded flick apart from its peers is a human drama with a clever storyline which transcend the usual stuck-in-the-ghetto flicks full of sensational crime stuff. An engaging watch for those into drug/ghetto/crime flicks. (B)

Fresh was a very unique movie, the opening montage was great and the dialogue was so realistic to the point where li'l kids in the ghetto are talkin' about bein' rich and Scarsdale, NY which really impressed me 'cause Scarsdale is a rich neighborhood. Sean Nelson in a great role as Fresh the young drug dealer who's livin' in a home with 10-11 other relatives and has to move crack in order to survive. N'Bushe Wright shows up in her most depressing role as Fresh's under-confident sister - you really feel sorry for her in this as well as a few others. Giancarlo Esposito is cool to watch as Esteban, A drug dealer that looks out for Fresh and the other top-tier performance comes in the form of Ron Brice as Corky the other drug dealer who is ruthless and demands that you do what you have to while he's looking and not behind his back. We already know Samuel L. Jackson would give a good performance that's no surprise at all.

Good story about the ghetto life and the drug game from the eyes of those around it. The ending in this epitomizes the saying "every man for himself"

another gunshot in the air for the ghetto genre 10/10