Film
Critic Notebook: Random
Screenings: A Modified Preview of 2007, Woodstock Film Festival
by
Jay Blotcher
The
actors in Liberty Kid never cease to amaze, not with grandstanding
dazzle but with a quiet luminosity that seems to infuse every actor,
especially the two leads, Al Thompson and Kareem Savinon as Derrick
and Tico.
“[Ilya]
worked every angle in every borough in the city: open calls, we
were auditioning round the clock for a couple of months,”
Fessenden writes. “She got involved with some casting professionals,
and they were able to reach out to Latino theater groups. When Al
Thompson got involved, he helped by auditioning with open callers,
it was very organic, very vibrant. Derrick’s mother was a
non-actor, and this was Kareem Savinon (Tico)’s first lead
screen role.” Derrick, unable to find his way, impulsively
enlists in the war in Iraq. When he returns home, he is shell-shocked
and understands the world even less than before, sleeping in his
car and reluctantly attending group therapy sessions with other
discharged soldiers.
“Ilya
wrote the script long after September 11,” Fessenden writes;
“the US was already in Iraq. She knew people from the hood
who would fit into this world, and I think she wanted to show how
this great national tragedy affected other New York communities
than the Manhattanites.”
Liberty
Kid won best feature at the New York International Latino Film Festival.
BOTTOM
LINE: While the tale flirts with a certain schematic form, its impressive
performances, edgy handheld camerawork and a propulsive soundtrack
offset any lapses...
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