The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete

The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (2013)

A deeply thoughtful movie about two charming kids who end up going it alone in the projects when their addicted mother is taken away. We are taken into the bowels of a pretty realistic low income housing world in New York City. The portrayal of the dangers might actually be watered down a bit, and it feels weirdly depopulated a lot of time, but the squalor and the general grim feeling works.

What clinches this movie, and no one will argue this, is the performances of both the leading actors, Mister and Pete. Mister, an African-American kid with thoughtful eyes, is about 12 and he's weirdly calm and sanguine through all the disasters. Pete, an Asian kid with sweet innocence written all over him, is a few years younger and needs Mister's protection. The odd but true friendship between the two is a lot of the movie, but the way each has to deal with the outside world in a series of difficult (and ugly and profane) incidents is what gives it depth.

It's fair to say this movie, and its African-American director George Tillman, have been overlooked. See it. It may not take creative leaps and it may not push every button at exactly the right time, but it has the sincerity and stunning leading actors to make it an important new film.

I saw this film at Sundance and the cast and crew got about four standing ovations. People who raved about Fruitvale said this film tops it. This a great film! This film is a cross between Spike Lee's Clockers (1995) and Hirokazu Koreeda's Nobody Knows (2004), with a bit of Fresh (1994) mixed in. Based on a true story, Nobody Knows portrays siblings who are abandoned by their mother and forced to survive on their own. Resiliency is a trait of many urban kids. Even in tragedy they were just kids. Mister and Pete doesn't try to let the audience "off the hook". The performances pull you in, or at least it did for me.

I was surprised to see how low the ratings were for this film.

Masterfully told, poignant and memorable, this film was an emotional home run. Every character was vivid and raw, especially the compassion-evoking, young lead, "Mister." Jennifer Hudson was just short of brilliant in her portrayal of a troubled, desperate mother, spiraling out of control, plagued by the repercussions of too many poor choices. This film is grittily realistic, thanks to a near-perfect cast and superb, thoughtful storytelling. Love it.

You may have two female singers turned actors, you may have Anthony Mackie and Jeffrey Wright (in roles you might not expect them, especially the former), but the real stars are the two kids. It's amazing how they play their roles. This movie is really gripping and it's all because of the two children who make this movie. The casting people and whoever else was responsible for getting them cannot get enough praise for the job they did.

Same as mentioned above goes for the children, but also the script and the directing. You never feel like you are being preached at and it still manages to convey its message. On the disc I watched there are a few deleted scenes, which are also worth watching. Some might even say, they should've been in the movie too. That's for you to judge, but won't take anything from the impact of the movie, only enhance it

This movie is all around amazing! (Acting was phenomenal!) It's so moving and so gut wrenchingly realistic, it's mind blowing. It pulls so many emotions from you at once, it will leave you breathless. I would recommend this film to anyone regardless of race or class because this story transcends all those lines. I especially recommend it for teachers, parents, and those children who are mature enough to handle the subject matter because this is something that should be discussed with the younger generation.

I saw this movie at a private screening and we had a Q&A afterwards. It was very interesting to hear people's opinion (some of whom were from similar backgrounds as the two boys ) and see how it affected the entire audience was.