Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival
"A Thousand and One" is a story about the audacious and free-spirited Ines, who convinced the necessary crime on the path to redemption and kidnaps six-year-old Terry from the foster care system. This is director A. V. Rockwell's first feature-length film and it's a pretty strong debut while having a flawed narrative.
Rockwell's direction was good at depicting the hardships of mother and son in New York City especially in the Harlem community. Interesting themes were explored from the perspective of it's characters and Rockwell manages. The lead perfofmance from Teyana Taylor stands out as Taylor does a great job and portraying an heavily flawed character. The camerawork, production and soundtrack choice were pretty good as well.
It's clear Rockwell has an interesting story to tell but the narrative felt a bit bland at times as there are aspects that could have used some work. The performance from the son had different actors of ages and the child actors were pretty good but unfortunately the adult actors playing the son felt underacted and didn't fit the emotional weight. Most of the characters weren't as fully invested as the main lead's character which stinks because some of the side characters were important plot points in the film but they felt underdeveloped and not as interesting.
Towards the end, the last 20 minutes were the standing points of the film with great uses of performance and music to demonstrate the climax. Overall, despite being flawed and predictable, the film still standout with a strong performance and good intended direction.
Rating: B-
"A Thousand and One" is a story about the audacious and free-spirited Ines, who convinced the necessary crime on the path to redemption and kidnaps six-year-old Terry from the foster care system. This is director A. V. Rockwell's first feature-length film and it's a pretty strong debut while having a flawed narrative.
Rockwell's direction was good at depicting the hardships of mother and son in New York City especially in the Harlem community. Interesting themes were explored from the perspective of it's characters and Rockwell manages. The lead perfofmance from Teyana Taylor stands out as Taylor does a great job and portraying an heavily flawed character. The camerawork, production and soundtrack choice were pretty good as well.
It's clear Rockwell has an interesting story to tell but the narrative felt a bit bland at times as there are aspects that could have used some work. The performance from the son had different actors of ages and the child actors were pretty good but unfortunately the adult actors playing the son felt underacted and didn't fit the emotional weight. Most of the characters weren't as fully invested as the main lead's character which stinks because some of the side characters were important plot points in the film but they felt underdeveloped and not as interesting.
Towards the end, the last 20 minutes were the standing points of the film with great uses of performance and music to demonstrate the climax. Overall, despite being flawed and predictable, the film still standout with a strong performance and good intended direction.
Rating: B-