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Hillman Grad Productions
Makeready
Sight Unseen Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Times change. Love stays the same.
Struggling but unapologetically living on her own terms, Inez is moving from shelter to shelter in mid-1990s New York City. With her 6-year-old son Terry in foster care and unable to leave him again, she kidnaps him so they can build their life together. As the years go by, their family grows and Terry becomes a smart yet quiet teenager, but the secret that has defined their lives threatens to destroy the home they have so improbably built.
MartyCrooner
Jan 23, 2024 · via TMDB
A story about a mother-son relationship and how it changes over the course of a decade. With a background setting of New York in the 90s and 00s, the movie depicts how issues like poverty, crime, race, and gentrification interact. Well acted with beautiful characters. Except the kid can be a little too sniveling at times. I mean, I get that there's childhood trauma and abandonment issues, but geeeeez.
Brent Marchant
Jan 3, 2024 · via TMDB
It’s been said that a mother’s love for her child runs so deep that she’ll do virtually anything to protect her young. But is it possible to carry things too far? That’s a question raised in writer-director A.V. Rockwell’s debut feature about a mother with a criminal record (Teyana Taylor) who kidnaps her young son (Aaron Kingsley Adetola) out of foster care upon her release from prison. She questions the adequacy of the care he is receiving as a ward of the state, and so she snatches him from his foster caretaker and hides him away as she seeks to get her life together. Over the next 11 years (1994-2005), she largely succeeds at this, too, even in the midst of many challenges, including an often-uneven relationship with her former partner in crime (literally) (Will Catlett) and a rapidly changing New York, especially in her home neighborhood of Harlem. Despite a somewhat slow and unfocused start, the story deepens as this unlikely new family seeks to get on its feet. However, the somewhat-disjointed opening act sets the tone for the overall narrative, which gets away from its basic premise and starts meandering in engaging but largely unrelated territory, an issue that hampers the focus of this story until near the end. These shortcomings are defrayed to a degree by its fine performances, most notably Taylor and the gifted actors playing her son at ages 13 and 17 (Aven Courtney and Josiah Cross, respectively), but these portrayals aren’t quite enough to overcome the inherent drawbacks in the direction of the script. With that said, though, the filmmaker nevertheless shows promise in telling moving tales, so here’s hoping this start lead to better efforts in her future endeavors.
CinemaSerf
May 16, 2023 · via TMDB
This features quite a strong performance from a convincing Teyana Taylor. She is "Inez" who decides that she wants to reclaim her young son "Terry" from his life on the streets of New York. What now ensues illustrates quite well the difficulties they both face as they both grow up with little by way of opportunity - or money - but determined to stick together despite their not always seeing eye to eye. Along the way, she marries "Lucky" (William Catlett), a decent man who offers some stability and it begins to look like "Terry" (by this stage played by Josiah Cross, but played well as a child by Aaron Kingsley Adetola) might just have a chance. Thing is, as the audience know by now, the relationship between mother and son is not as it seems - and the impending action of the authorities, coupled with a rather unscrupulous landlord, look like the wrecking ball is en route to their dreams. It meanders a bit too much for me, this film. It could have easily lost twenty minutes and the writing could have focussed better on developing the "Terry" character a little more, but it's still quite a powerful assessment of family values, loyalty and civic indifference that ought to make anyone sit up and take notice. It doesn't need a big screen - but is worth a watch on the telly.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Teyana Taylor
Inez
William Catlett
Lucky
Josiah Cross
Terry
Aven Courtney
Terry 13 Year Old
Aaron Kingsley Adetola
Terry 6 Years Old
Terri Abney
Kim Jones
Delissa Reynolds
Mrs. Jones
Amelia Workman
Anita Tucker
Adriane Lenox
Miss Annie
Mark Gessner
Jerry
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Pea 13 Years Old
Jennean Farmer
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Kal-El White
Shawn
Naya Desir-Johnson
Foster Sister
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Rudy
Artrece Johnson
Patrice
Emmy Harrington
Anne
Desi Domo
Middle School Teacher
Bianca LaVerne Jones
Hair Customer
Rudolph Giuliani
Self (archive voice)
Eric K. Yue
Director of Photography
Rickey Tripp
Choreographer
Roy T. Anderson
Stunt Coordinator
Don Hewitt Sr.
Stunt Driver
David Shumbris
Stunts
A.V. Rockwell
Director
Kristan Sprague
Editor
Sabine Hoffman
Editor
Avy Kaufman
Casting
Oren Moverman
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Rachel Jacobs
Executive Producer
Lena Waithe
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Rishi Rajani
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A.V. Rockwell
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Too Much, Too Young: Children of the Middle Ages
2011
900 Neighbours
2006
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
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Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
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