The Land

Four teenage boys commit to making it out of the inner city of their hometown Cleveland by pursuing their dreams of becoming professional skateboarders. Because of lack of funds they needed to get into tournaments they had to depend on illegal ways to obtain money. This landed them in an extremely sticky situation that will test their brotherhood and their morals. After watching The Land we can see that this stands apart from other coming of age movies and stories. It stands differently than all of the high school romance and high school drama stories who are all very similar and overused plot themes. These boys have real big, real world problems. Violence problems, poverty problems, family problems. None of the cheesy stuff. The movie is also relatable because of how the characters change throughout. A main example would be how Cisco changes in the movie. In a time where there is more violence than ever, The Land shows the even more harsh violence that is not shown on the news. The stuff that happens daily in big cities but usually goes unnoticed. This is showed in one scene when guys apart of a drug queenpin shoot drive by and shoot someone on their dirt bikes. There are also many examples that show change and many high schoolers go through lots of changes. One example is how cisco changes. He is all for doing the illegal things and he is the one who had the idea. But he was the first to realise that they are not cut up for the stuff. He tries to quit but no one else wants to. I recommend this movie for kids ages 13-19 because they can relate to this the most. These kids are coming of age the hard way like many kids do. This is a very entertaining and unique movie that is not like many others i have seen.

I imagine a lot of people will say that this movie is soaked in style and missing some substance but I think that is easily said when a film is as stylish as The Land.. I would say The Land was a cross between Dope and The Basketball Diaries, which is a huge compliment. Great acting, believable script, incredible cinematography and one of the best, most fitting soundtracks I've heard in a very long time. If you enjoyed Dope, Whiteboys, The Basketball Diaries, Kids or any other movie in this category, be sure to check out The Land.

The film is basically a rise and fall tale of 4 teenagers who want to become professional skateboarders. They do some fairly questionable things to get by, until one day, they hit the jackpot. After a fairly upbeat second act, things start to get a little serious for these kids.

It's a story we're all used to by now but rarely is it done with such class. Good work by everyone involved.

If you want to watch a really depressing movie this is it. This movie was something that as you watch you can already foretell what's going to happen in the next scene. Wasn't really out of the box or different from anything that you would imagine this film to be about from reading the summary. That's about it.

The Land ranks up there with Enough (2002) and The Town (2010) as the least helpful, least effective titles in recent memory. Its a shame too because the film's well-worn narrative and cautiously on- the-nose themes are enough for most people to dismiss it whole- cloth. It's just another urban, coming-of-age drama hoping to capitalize on white liberal guilt and likely to be picked up and syndicated on IFC, they'll say. Yet there's something more than meets the eye about this film's uncompromising bleakness and belabored, intricate nodus. A none-to-immersive realism that speckles the screen with an understated fervor. We're not convinced these characters are real, but writer/director Steven Caple Jr. thinks they are. It's surprising how much mileage one can get out of that alone.

The Land centers on four chronically truant youths Patty Cake (Gavron), Boobie (Walker), Junior (Arias) and Cisco (Lendeborg) during their summer vacation. The four hope to escape their unforgiving neighborhood streets and third track expectations by stealing cars and raising enough cash to support a professional skateboarding career. By doing so however, they cross paths with one of Cleveland's most powerful drug syndicates and sink slowly into a life that may be too crooked for them to handle.

The Land follows all the similar story beats we have all come to expect, ever since Boyz n the Hood (1991) became an unexpected success. On the surface, the choices of our heroes are always clear in their truth and consequence, yet for whatever reason they're always stuck making the wrong choices at the wrong time. It can be cumbersome and by the third act it becomes wholly predictable. What an invested audience will see however is a slow motion car crash, where we know where all these little decisions are leading to, but are powerless to stop them.

That feeling of powerlessness permeates The Land, giving some a cause for contemplation. Even when the kids are goofing off, skating through blighted streets and abandoned school houses, you can just feel the tension; like the sudden woosh of air before a hammer drops. Cisco, the presumed leader of the gang insists "I don't want anyone to control me,"yet it's clear that he's being constantly molded, manipulated and controlled by an environment that's openly hostile towards him. That environment, by the way includes a manic Kim Coates whose crusty Uncle Steve would be considered Dickensian if he wasn't so outwardly pathetic. Between his uncle's ramshackle Hot Dog stand and his cousin Junior's house, Cisco gets the strong impression he's just another lost cause.

What puts The Land just a hair above the average helping of faux- realist poverty porn is Caple's often poetic inclusion of Cleveland a not just a setting but a character in the film. Large portions of the film cast the city in eternal midnight; a Gothic harbinger of sorts. Yet when the four start selling large quantities of "Molly" to transient party-goers, the city opens up with predatory proficiency. The buses and Rapid Transit System are but mucky arteries, the buildings: a facade of wealth and wellness; the carnival hints at possible pleasures - yet it's all a lie.

While many films blunt their stories with overdone melodrama or social proselytizing, The Land dares to be bleak, telling a distressing story about the cyclical, cross-generational nature of political and economic violence. Taught to either accept vocational education for jobs that no longer exist, or live a short-lived life of wild despotism, these kids are never really given a chance. In a quest for self-determination, our crew all ultimately become servants of a larger master. It's the audience's embarras de choix as to whether any of them made the right choices.

Going in to watch this movie, I did not have high hopes. It seemed to be a tired theme, judging by the write-up. Though it was not groundbreaking or a 'first of its type', it was thoroughly enjoyable, with some very solid acting accompanied by some excellent music. I think that this film will definitely appeal to a teen audience, much like the classic 'basketball diaries' did for me when I was a teenager.

With a solid plot, it actually feels more like a documentary at times, than a movie. It does pull on the heart-strings a little, and will hit home for some with the brutal neighborhood and lifestyle that some less fortunate children are brought up in, but not in a cliché way.

Overall I feel a 7/10 does it justice.