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A Thousand and One (M,116mins) Directed by A.V. Rockwell ****
Like Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning Moonlight, writer-director A.V. Rockwell’s heartfelt – and sometimes harrowing – debut feature is an emotion-filled story told across three specific points in time.
Set in an evolving – and unraveling – Harlem, New York (the city and it’s direction under mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg provide vital tonal and scene setting) in 1994, 2001 and 2005, it’s the tale of three inhabitants striving for a better life – seemingly against the odds.
When we first meet Inez de la Paz (Teyana Taylor), she’s just been released from Rikers Island prison. With a rap sheet “as long as the sidewalk”, her attempts to get the two weeks pay she’s owed – or her old hairdressing job back -–quickly fall flat.
What really concerns her though is seeing her beloved Terry (Aaron Kingsley Adetola), now six, out enjoying an ice-block with other kids from his foster home.
“You don’t remember me do you?” she queries, adding that she’s going to be living across the street in the local shelter and she’s “going to stick around this time”, although she doesn’t want other people to know that.
But it’s only when Inez learns that Terry is in hospital – after climbing out a window to escape the home – and rushes to his bedside, that he opens up about his earliest memory – of her abandoning him on a street corner around four years earlier. “Get that out of your head,” she chides, while splitting a KitKat with him. That, though, doesn’t stop him asking the question Inez is dreading: “Why do you keep leaving me?”
In response, she offers to let him stay with her “for a couple of days” where she grew up in Harlem. He excitedly agrees – and she immediately liberates him from his hospital room.
Once in his new surroundings, Terry instantly asks another awkward question: “Where’s my Dad at?”
“He’s gone,” Inez replies, “but you wouldn’t have liked him anyway.
“I’ve got someone else in mind,” she adds, paving the way to introduce him to her boyfriend Lucky (William Catlett), who is initially somewhat reticent about becoming a de-facto father.
As she arranges a new birth certificate and social security card, so he can be enroled in the local school, Inez again tries to assure him that she is going nowhere.
“I’ll go to war for you against this whole city. They’ll want to try to break us up, but we’re in this together.”
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With A Thousand and One, Teyana Taylor finally gets a role worthy of her talents, after starring in less-than-stellar recent fare like Coming 2 America and White Men Can’t Jump.
While Rockwell’s narrative structure and over-arching theme of identity invites obvious comparisons to Moonlight, A Thousand and One will also bring back memories of Lee Daniels’ similarly set Oscar-winning 2009 tale Precious.
Like that film, it features a precocious, powerful performance from the actor(s) playing its young protagonist (there Gabourey Sidibe, here the trio of Adetola, Aven Courtney and Josiah Cross) and a singular, breathtaking turn from the adult female lead (there Monique, here the terrific Teyana Taylor, finally getting a role worth of her talents after starring in less-than-stellar recent fare like Coming 2 America and White Men Can’t Jump).
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While writer-director Rockwell’s narrative structure and over-arching theme of identity invites obvious comparisons to Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning Moonlight, A Thousand and One will also bring back memories of Lee Daniels’ similarly set Oscar-winning 2009 tale Precious.
Just when you think you’ve got her character pegged, she’ll show another facet that will surprise, while the slow-burning drama builds to a truly fabulous finale that will have you rethinking all that you’ve witnessed before – and desperate to re-watch as soon as possible to see if you can spot any hints or clues.
A thoroughly deserving winner of a US Grand Jury Prize at January’s Sundance Film Festival, A Thousand and One is one of the most absorbing and immersive dramas of the year.
A Thousand and One is now available to rent from Neon and iTunes.
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