96 Minutes

I think the main problem with this movie is how the characters weren't developed properly, I think they wasted time in footage that was useless for the movie and they left out many details that could've given us a better insight into each character. Also the movie left you with a feeling of inconclusiveness. I think the characters were weak, except Dre which was portrayed by Evan Ross, almost all the emotional charge of the movie was entirely on his shoulders. He carried the movie throughout the end, but still you get the feel that they could've done more with his character. Truth is, I couldn't bring myself to feel any empathy for the victims in the movie, and the only character that inspired me to feel anything (Dre) still wasn't enough to make me feel like this movie had real effort. All in all it's a good one time watch.

This is the movie obviously made in the vein of an Alejandro González Iñárritu movie or a movie like "Crash" if you will. Problem however is that it's clearly a less clever or well written version of a Alejandro González Iñárritu movie, made with far less talented people involved as well.

There is plenty wrong with this movie and its story and way of storytelling, so I don't even know where to begin really. But I do believe that the biggest problem is not even necessarily with its story but lies more with its characters. There is not one likely enough character in this movie, that you could ever start to care for. It's also because none of them ever get developed properly enough but also because most of them simply don't do anything likable at all in this movie. You just don't feel any sympathy or involved with any of them, which makes this a very distant movie to watch already.

And no, it clearly doesn't help that the characters aren't played by the most talented actors. It actually shows how these type of movies can really benefit from a strong, all-star cast and how terribly uninteresting these sort of movies can work out, without an impressive cast.

But there is also clearly plenty wrong with the story itself. It's just not connected very well or cleverly all. It doesn't feel organic in any way, which is also partly due to some poor dialog. It's all too forced and unlikely and not everything comes together very well, which also results in a pretty abrupt and unsatisfying ending.

Also the constant switching around between 'past' and 'present' events in the movie is not balanced out too well. With this storytelling technique the two things should strengthen each other and add to the movie its tension or mystery but in this case it only mostly works out as redundant and even somewhat annoying. It sometimes spend too much time in the 'present' while not showing enough the events that led up to the movie its 'conflict', which already is a pretty ridicules, unlikely and poorly handled conflict to begin with. Some of the choices that some of the characters make in this movie just aren't very likely at all, which makes you feel even less involved with all of it.

And yes, I'm probably still being too kind about this movie with my rating. I don't completely trash it because it's a smaller movie, with a small budget and with all some very average people involved. Still it's not really worth seeing, though at the same time it's also far from the worst thing you'll ever see.

5/10

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This movie follows four young people struggling in their own way with their education. The main male lead is a senior high school student (Evan Ross) who grew up in a terrible environment, and tries to escape his "fate" (or what people expect him to become) by studying hard and trying to get a good education. An excellent, excellent movie! The two leading actors (and most others) just did a great job! We saw the part of the movie crew at a premiere; they explained that beyond the heavy tension of the movie, they actually had a hard time not spending their time laughing with each other... This totally did not show up on the screen, the movie is tensed throughout and the acting (again) just excellent. The directing is just sublime as well, excellent shot decisions that gives the proper atmosphere to the movie with a lot of close up shots to focus on the characters.

I saw this at sxsw and can't stop thinking about it. I work at an inner city school part time and the way this film portrayed the life our kids are living, the oppressive messages they receive and choices they face everyday was so eerily true to life that I just can't shake it. It's a thriller, don't get me wrong, it has your guts in knots the entire time, but there is so much more to it. It has such compassion for all the characters even as it portrays them doing terrible things.

The acting is outstanding, especially Evan Ross who plays Dre and although we don't get to spend enough time with any of the individual characters (I would have liked to know more about the girls especially) we're still drawn in to each of their stories which is ultimately what makes us care about what happens to them in the end. The various story lines are skillfully woven together in a visually arresting manor that brings something new to the multiple storyline genre. A lot of the themes are familiar, but they are handled in a new and fresh way that rings true to life.

It is a very intense film so you have to like that kind of thing, but I would recommend this film to anyone. It will get you thinking.

One of the things that might bring the movie down for you (as it did for me), was/is the acting. It is very crucial to feel or at least be with those characters along the ride (no pun intended). The movie does not achieve that goal wholly in my humble opinion. So while this is dramatic (and the storyline with flashbacks shouldn't be confusing, it's actually adding to the suspense up to a point), it fails to really completely suck you in.

Is reality that bleak though, is what some people seem to ask, and the answer can be yes. It depends where you live and what you consume. I was a bit mad at first, because the movie showed one character playing a war game and this character is hostile. It feeds into clichés, which isn't really good. Fortunately they also showed, that other factors are playing a role in the development of ones character. Decent overall, worth a watch I'd say