A THOUSAND AND ONE (A-minus) - This elegant and assured debut from writer A.V. Rockwell is a period piece from the '90s and '00s that tracks an ex-con mother who kidnaps her son from the foster-care system when he is 6 and raises him to the brink of college. A bunch of potential cliches probably just popped into your mind; don't worry, though, because this smart film dodges every trope and pitfall of poverty porn you might fear.
Teyana Taylor, known for her work in the music industry, grounds this film as Inez, who monitors little Terry (Aaron Kingsley Adetola), a shy, quiet boy who not only languishes in the foster-care system but ends up physically abused. Inez, with the help of a straight-arrow friend (Terri Abney), finds temporary shelter and then finds a job and an apartment for her and Terry, then enrolling him in school under a pseudonym. She eventually reconciles with an ex, Lucky (William Catlett), who is not Terry's biological father, but who raises the boy as his own.
Rockwell goes deep into his characters and crafts soulful dialogue. Time jumps forward to Terry on the brink of high school, where he copes with stop-and-frisk cops and benefits when a counselor helps get him into a prestige school. A final time jump finds Terry preparing for college. At this age he is played by Josiah Cross, still dealing with his early trauma, often struggling to find his words, especially when manning up to ask a girl out. He and Inez are battling their slumlord, and Inez and Lucky are often on the outs (he has a wandering eye).
Inez is a devoted mother (she slogs away at a cleaning job instead of pursuing her dream of styling hair), so a twist in the final reel packs a powerful punch. It is believable and wrenching, leading to an emotional breakthrough between Inez and the wounded Terry. Rockwell subverts our lazy expectations at every turn. Taylor carries every scene, and she is surrounded by a supporting cast that creates a fascinating world, carved out of the recent past.
THE FIVE DEVILS (A-minus) - Lea Mysius follows up 2017's "Ava" with another focus on an exceptional girl, this one a child with post-cognition, the ability to see events from the past. Newcomer Sally Drame is quite the find as Vicky, the wild-haired girl whose journeys to the past are triggered after her aunt comes to visit her parents, an event that triggers the three adults whose histories are inextricably linked.
In a well-executed sci-fi maneuver, little Vicky can travel back in time to witness the unique teenage relationship between her mother, Joanne (Adele Exarchopoulos) and future husband Jimmy (Moustapha Mbengue), as well as Jimmy's sister Julia (Swala Emati), who was romantically involved with Joanne before Joanne would go on to marry Jimmy. A tragedy at that time had sent Julia off to prison, and the film opens in the present day with her returning to Joanne and Jimmy's home upon her release from jail. The tension is palpable for the full 103 minutes of running time.
Vicky collects objects and labels them by their scents, and those scents send her reeling back to the past. She gets to be a stoic observer, and in this way she can learn about her mother's past while finally getting an understanding of the aunt she had never met. Mysius captures a loveless marriage; a romantic spark that had been dormant for years; and the fascinating curiosity of a sharp girl. Exarchopoulos, as usual, brings depth to her understanding of Joanne's desires, and Emati and Mbengue well with emotion as the traumatized grown-up siblings. Young Drame often steals the show with her cheeky look and a whole Greek chorus bristling behind her big eyes.
It can all be a rather odd stew of storytelling -- there are a few trippy psychedelic freakouts to keep things lively, and I swooned to a karaoke duet of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" -- but Mysius and her cast manage to offer a nuanced and provocative tale of hauntings from one's past.
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