Monday, August 30, 2010

The Movie Fresh Directed By Boaz Yakin

By Jewel Best

Writer director Boaz Yakin has had an interesting career in Hollywood. He's always been, primarily, a write for hire. He has had very few personal projects, mainly sticking to studio work like Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Most of his work is... Let's be honest, mediocre and forgettable. It's not his fault, it's just that these are the dull projects they give him to work with. So what is one of his movies doing on a review labeled "must see movie downloads"?

Yakin wrote and directed the film after going into exile for some years. He was disillusioned with all the crummy studio work he was getting, all the uninspired, formulaic movies that were really just being made to sell more tickets and put more money in the studio exec's pockets. He decided to leave Hollywood and not to come back until he had something to say. Fresh, then, is certainly saying something.

The film follows a young boy working as a drug mule for various mid-level dealers around the city. He makes anywhere from twenty to fifty bucks a run, and he's been storing that money in a coffee can by the railroad tracks. The money really adds up when you save it, and Fresh is saving it. For what? We won't say. Save to say that the way the movie plays out is really something.

Fresh spends one afternoon a week learning to play chess from his father, who is estranged from the rest of the family. These scenes are something like the Greek chorus scenes of the film, with Fresh reflecting on what's been happening and contemplating his next move.

Think of it as Fistful of Dollars set in the ghetto. When a girl Fresh has a crush on, as well as a childhood friend, are murdered in a random shooting by one of the drug dealers he works for, Fresh hatches a plan to take revenge on all of the pushers and scumbags he deals with on a daily basis, freeing himself and his family from the clutches of the drug dealers.

Fresh's scheme to take the badguys down is really incredible, serving as a fascinating parallel to the chess games he plays with his father. The master stroke of his plan is that none of his opponents suspect him of a thing, as he is, after all, just a kid. He essentially manages to play dumb and innocent, while in fact outsmarting everyone around him.

The movie can be brutally violent and shocking, which drives home the reality of Fresh's situation. The villains are truly menacing, especially the young thug who typically gives Fresh his payments and is in a perpetual state of planning to kill somebody. Fresh is a hero who manages to remain pure, knowing where he can compromise and where he cannot.

The film is truly one of a kind. Clockers runs in a somewhat similar vein, but Fresh is built around a truly unique concept. The movie takes a young child, around ten years old, and pits him against ruthless, violent, sociopath criminals. It's not a children's movie, even though the hero is a child. It is a film about the power of morality and righteousness over compromised morality and cruelty, and truly a fascinating thriller. - 40726

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