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A BOY A GIRL A DREAM
Director: Qasim Basir Cast: Omari Hardwick, Meagan Good MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:29 Release Date: 9/14/18 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 13, 2018 There is very little to the story of A Boy A Girl A Dream. It's the night of November 8, 2016. The polls have closed, and while spending the night out with some friends in Los Angeles, Cass (Omari Hardwick), a filmmaker who has lost his passion, keeps checking the news alerts on his phone. He meets Free (Meagan Good), an attorney from out of town who is jaded with her work and a recent relationship. The two spend the night wandering the city and talking about what's on their minds. It's a good start for a simple story, especially since both Hardwick and Good have a naturalistic quality to their respective performances. Their relationship feels authentic enough, as the two initially bond over mutual curiosity about each other, and after a run-in with the police, that bond grows instantly deeper. The conversations flow as we'd anticipate from two strangers who think they might want to get to know each other. There are long pauses as they figure out what to say or allow some idea to take hold. The topics, naturally, range from themselves, each other, their hopes and dreams, race and racism, and, to be sure, the election, which increasingly seems like a tipping point for something to change within themselves and between each other. The entire movie has been assembled as a real or a convincingly faked one-take by co-writer/director Qasim Basir, Either way, it's an impressive feat that makes one look for the cuts and constantly come up short. The movie itself eventually comes up short, too, just as it's preparing to find some way to tie the news in the background to the lives of these two characters. Instead, Basir and co-writer Samantha Tanner can only arrive at generalities about the situation and these people. Cass and Free both have a dream, even if his is on hold and hers is still being discovered. They don't quite know how to react to the election results, but A Boy A Girl A Dream wants to instill some hope into the situation. Unfortunately, that hope feels as removed from this story as the unseen, unfinished movie on Cass' phone that, somehow, brings Free to tears. Up to a point, the movie works with specifics, but its final sentiments ring shallow. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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