A Thousand And One - Movie Review
A Thousand And One - Movie Review
Critics Score - 8 of 10
General Audience Score - 7 of 10
SYNOPSIS - This film begins in New York City, we see the Chrysler building, the Twin Towers, then Rikers Island, an island located in the Bronx that is home to the biggest prison in the city. We see a woman inside the Rikers Island Correctional Facility and she’s fixing another woman’s hair when we see onscreen text indicating we’ve ventured back to the year 1994. The next scene comes and we’re out on the streets of New York in the Bronx, following the same woman from the prison, Inez (Teyana Taylor), as she roams around in her old neighborhood, checking in on an old job, visiting friends and doing their hair. She spots a young boy walking the streets in an oversized light blue and white basketball shirt and walks over to him. She goes over and begins talking to young Terry (Aaron Kingsley), but he refuses to look at her, she explains she’s going to be around for good and that she’s going to stay out of trouble this time. The next day Inez is busy out in the street in her red sports bra top, Tommy Hilfiger jeans and large gold hoop earrings that must weigh a half pound each as she solicits work, offering to do hair, handing out flyers and hustling the cars passing by. As the days go by as marked by the delightful costume design showcasing her changing wardrobe of hot 90’s fashion looks, she keeps inquiring with other neighborhood boys about Terry. One boy tells her he’s in the hospital because he fell out of a window after an incident involving his foster mother.
When Inez goes to visit Terry in the hospital, we get the sense that there’s a distance between the two, as she sits across the room, leaning back in her chair while she inquires as to how he likes his foster mother and what toys he likes. We’re not quite sure what to make of their relationship and what all went into their story until this point, but we’re hoping to uncover some clues as it continues to play out. Inez decides to take Terry out of foster care her way, the one that involves no paperwork, she hits up some friends for help getting back on her feet and for a place to stay, to get her and her son off the street. Finally she finds a place of her own, then her landlady is able to fix her up with a decent enough job at a care facility. Not before too long Inez is back with Lucky (William Catlett), an old flame that she had a relationship with before she recently spent some time in the detention center. Although the couple has their issues as many couples do, Lucky seems to be a genuinely good guy and after the two move in together, Inez requests that Lucky try and warm up to Terry, despite the fact that he is not the boy's father. As their family struggles to find some stability and normalcy, what challenges the future has in store for them, we will have to wait and see. The screenplay picks up some steam heading into the third act, some dominos begin to fall which trigger some devastating ripple effects and the emotionally charged finale is one of the best so far this year.
On the one hand, A Thousand And One is well designed, even in its simplicity, it’s not showy or flashy in its camera work or highly stylistic in how it tells this story. But the screenplay is well crafted and tells us the life of this family fighting to stay together despite the aspects of life and society that would tear it apart. The cast is doing some good work all around for the most part but the star of the show, Teyana Taylor, is really doing something special. Her performance as a woman trying to do right by her son despite her problems in life and her own shortcomings was some truly impressive work. I hope she’s given some recognition at the end of the year, even if it’s just an Indie Spirit Awards nomination. The direction from A.V. Rockwell was also solid, although I have not seen either of her other directorial efforts, her vision for this story is clear and her filmmaking skills are able to craft this into a wonderful piece of cinema. Unfortunately the film does take its time to get going and suffers from a few pacing issues in the first half, some general audiences will feel a bit of the drag of the almost two hour runtime. As I mentioned, the camera work is a bit underwhelming, most of the shot sequences don’t provide much cinematic flair to complement the family drama. But the questions the film raises and leaves each of us to ponder hits hard. What does it mean to be a mother? How do you define a family? What make a place a home? As we contemplate those in the wake of watching A Thousand And One, we’re left with just as many thoughts and ideas, and maybe even a few tears, as we reflect on what it all means to us.
SUMMARY - This film is neither a technical marvel nor a movie that’ll be in contention for many film awards, it’s a simple family drama. But what it is is a wonderful story that’s well written and directed and it leaves a big impression. There might be A Thousand movies that you pass up on watching this year, but make this Thousand And One one of the ones you don’t miss.
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