JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
New York Times journalist-turned-filmmaker Walter Thompson-Hernandez has been telling stories of Southern California for much of his career. He wrote a book called "The Compton Cowboys" about Black equestrians dedicated to getting inner city kids on horses and off the streets. Critic Bob Mondello says his new film, "If I Go Will They Miss Me," is an intense but tender coming-of-age story set in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: When you live in the flight path of LAX, it makes sense. You dream of flying.
(SOUNDBITE OF AIRPLANE TAKING OFF)
MONDELLO: Twelve-year-old Anthony is known as Little Ant (ph), which makes his dad Big Ant.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
BODHI DELL: (As Lil Ant) I remember the first time dad took me to the beach.
J ALPHONSE NICHOLSON: (As Big Ant) Let's go, Ant. I know you ain't scared. Come on. It ain't that cold.
DELL: (As Lil Ant) And we counted all the airplanes that took off that day.
MONDELLO: Both of them dream of taking off - adventure for Little Ant, who's reading about Greek mythology in school, escape for his dad, who's been in and out of prison since he was just a bit older than his son is now. He's been absent a lot of Little Ant's life, a fact the boy has long since rationalized.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
DELL: (As Lil Ant) Kind of like Odysseus, who eventually returned back to Ithaca after being away from his family for a really long time.
MONDELLO: Big Ant does love his son, but that doesn't keep him from being an unreliable family man. His wife prays every morning when he's around.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
DANIELLE BROOKS: (As Lozita) Thank you, God. Help me to be patient today.
MONDELLO: And without fail, he'll try her patience. He's barely there for her or the kids. And when he is, he's apt to say the wrong thing, as when Little Ant gets beat up at school...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
NICHOLSON: (As Big Ant) How you think that make me look out here?
MONDELLO: ...Leading to further complications and a small miracle of community, as others step up to protect loyal son from wayward father. Writer/director Walter Thompson-Hernandez filmed largely at the Nickerson Gardens housing project in Watts, surrounding his performers with faces he found there - a smart way of grounding in the real a film that keeps taking fanciful flight when, say, Little Ant looks out his window and imagines young men in the courtyard with arms thrust down in inverted Vs lined up like planes taxiing on a runway or watches his notebook doodles dancing around the page as his teacher poses a question.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As teacher) Can anyone tell me, based off our assignment this week, where Pegasus the winged horse came from?
MONDELLO: Little Ant is building himself a Pegasus costume at home as a class project, so he's got this.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
DELL: (As Lil Ant) Pegasus' dad was a god. He was Zeus' brother. They called him Poseidon.
MONDELLO: He imagines his father in a toga with a trident.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
DELL: (As Lil Ant) And they was real close - like best friends close.
MONDELLO: Would that that were true at home.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
BROOKS: (As Lozita) You can't just take Anthony to the beach one time and just expect everything to go back to normal. It don't work like that.
NICHOLSON: (As Big Ant, yelling) I don't feel like talkin' today.
BROOKS: (As Lozita) Why you all yellin' at me for like that?
MONDELLO: Young actor Bodhi Dell brings a sweet openness to the 12-year-old at the film's center, while J. Alphonse Nicholson and Danielle Brooks are painfully well-matched as parents who are almost never on the same page.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
BROOKS: (As Lozita) We're not perfect. Your daddy is a work in progress. I'm a work in progress. But we gonna figure this out.
MONDELLO: With visuals recalling everything from the bayou fantasy "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" to groundbreaking works by Charles Burnett and Spike Lee, "If I Go Will They Miss Me" is rich in resonance and in forgiveness for characters who, while flawed...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
NICHOLSON: (As Big Ant) Dear God...
MONDELLO: ...Have eyes fixed on the skies.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME")
NICHOLSON: ...(As Big Ant) I pray you protect Little Ant in everything he do.
MONDELLO: Yes, they stumble. The film gives them wings.
I'm Bob Mondello.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
