Kicks

Bantucinema
Kicks 10/10
Released: July 8, 2016
By William Rivers

“Got them number ones!”

This is my first ten out of ten! I sat in the theater for about 20 minutes after the movie ended trying to think of any conceivable problem that this film had. I have been as thorough as possible, and as such, I can say without a single doubt that you should definitely go see Kicks. This is a film that grabs your heart and forces you to accept truths that we all too often try to avoid. It makes you understand that there are no true villains in this world, and most importantly, this movie expresses the nature of the Black community in an exceedingly more mature fashion than I have seen put to film in quite a long time.

Kicks stars Jahking Guillory as Brandon, a fifteen year old Black boy living in Richmond, California. To him and to everyone he knows, status is everything. It always was and always will be; and among Black teens in America, your status comes greatly from what’s on your feet. Everybody wants the newest and cleanest shoes available, so when Brandon gets a chance to get his hands on a pair of classic Jordan’s for much cheaper than retail, he forks over that cash without a second thought. For a while, he’s on top of the world. Girls are finally into him, and his friends don’t bag on him about the dusty old shoes he used to wear. Brandon has got it made until some dudes from Oakland beat him up and steal the Jordan’s off his feet. Now it’s up to him to decide how far he’s willing to go to get his shoes and his status back.

The thing that Kicks does so well is portray Bay area Black folks in such a realistic light. This movie isn’t about glorifying crime and violence, but it isn’t about shaming the Black community for some of that stuff either, and that’s what is so great. These people are real. Real people have multiple reasons for the things that they do and each and every major character in this film is explored with the same level of respect and maturity that is needed for the audience to not pass judgment, but to instead look inward and see themselves in the characters’ shoes. We all have the things in our lives that make us feel important or worthy of respect. For Black men in America, respect is everything and it comes only through a handful of means, for the most part. This movie is about what it takes to get that respect, and it questions just how important all of that really is in the end. Manhood is a fragile thing, and each character displays very well what they feel their manhood revolves around and what they are willing to do to keep it.

All too often, we as a community are painted as being insultingly one dimensional. Either the whole film focuses only on the crime, or the gives us a single Black character that doesn’t seem to identify with the black community as a whole. The affect of this is that whether it is purposeful or not, the antagonist ends up being The Black Community itself, rather than the singular character that is supposed to be the source of conflict. This type of film really causes people from the outside to continue to paint us all with the same brush because they compare themselves to the protagonist, but to nobody else. This film forces you to keep your prejudices to yourself and judge the characters as people and not as stereotypes. Just when you think you have somebody pinned down, they turn around and reveal a side of themselves that you really don’t see coming. In the end, you really aren’t on anybody’s side and that shows how diverse and complicated we are as a species. There are no inherently good, nor bad people. Writers Joshua Beirne-Golden and Justin Tipping understand this, and do an amazing job expressing this great truth.

From a filmmaking standpoint, this movie is flawless. The cinematography, while not groundbreaking, was purposeful and effective. The soundtrack is extremely diverse compared to some “Black movies” that stick to a collection of predictable Rap and R&B tracks. The tone of this film is one that ranges from upbeat youthful joy to the very depths of morality at many different points in the film. The symbolism isn’t always the easiest to grasp, but it nonetheless is never something that gets in the way or takes you out of the film. This movie doesn’t hold your hand and explain everything. It respects its audience enough to think about it and understand based on their own experiences.

The supporting cast here is one of great talent. I look forward to seeing these actors in future projects. Christopher Jordan Wallace, Christopher Meyer, Kofi Siriboe, Mahershala Ali, and even Molly Shaiken perform beautifully. The writing for them is spot on, and they more than handle their given roles. I can honestly see these characters as real people living here in the Bay, and that adds a bunch to the experience.

The plot carries on at a very nice pace. I never felt bored, nor did I ever feel like something important was being overlooked. Everything that needs to happen does and the ending is surprisingly very satisfying based on the events that precede it. I 100% recommend this film to anyone who has a connection to the Black community. This isn’t a movie I think white people will like very much honestly, and that shows by how few theaters are actually playing the film. For a movie that takes place in the Bay, there is currently only one theater in the Bay Area playing it. This is a movie that is easy to miss based on its meager marketing campaign and the lack of available theaters. Please don’t let this movie slip under the rug. If we want to see more movies of this sort, we as a community, must do our best to support the filmmakers who work to bring them to us. Seek out this movie and watch it. You will not be disappointed.