Tribeca Review: Kicks

by Sam Juliano

The central conceit in newcomer Justin Tripping’s visceral Kicks hearkens back to one of world cinema’s most venerated classics.  Vittorio DeSica’s 1948 neo-realist Bicycle Thieves spent nearly its entire running time on the wrenching pursuit of a stolen bicycle that represents economic survival at a time of war ravaged economic impoverishment.  The final twist in the Italian film was meant to imply that desperation reeks violation of the very tenets of fair play that launched what initially seemed like a hopeless search.  In Kicks the theft of a handsome pair of Nike Air Jordan sneakers doesn’t remotely change the survival dynamic, but it is a generational concern that can’t be solved by moving on – these S.E. Hinton types are born and bread on violence and confrontation, and an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth is the prevailing mindset.  Tripping’s film, which recalls Francis Ford Coppola’s Hinton adaptation of Rumble Fish is saturated in style, symbols and a lyrical bent, often leaving the narrative without direction or logical development.  This borrowing from Peter to pay Paul might sink most other films in wallowing self-absorption, yet Kicks works by embracing a Terrence Malick school of film making, understanding that film is a visual medium that doesn’t always have to stay abreast of script and narrative logistics.  To be sure Tripping’s work is often undisciplined and experimental, but it is simultaneously gripping and suggestive.  And like all memorable coming of age films it boasts a magnetic lead character, which in this film yields an electrifying performance.

Brandon (Jahking Guillory) goes after seemingly unattainable objects through relentless ambition, and within his narrow perspective the sneakers mean everything.  Small and physically compromised against his macho friends and enemies he makes up for this unbalance with running speed, which more than once allows him to escape serious harm.  His friends, the stoner Rico and the wannabe singer Albert aren’t the most helpful comrades for Brandon’s cause, and some of their antics are nakedly comedic.  Brandon comes upon the Nikes through black market opportunity, and initially sports his treasured acquisitions much like a young kid first riding a new bicycle.  Curving and gliding he makes the most of his normally taken for granted acquisition, and Tripping fuels his tone poem with rap music, slow motion and voice over narration.  Brandon is often followed by a astronaut, a Greek Chorus motif that seems to offer assurance that the young boy is being protected.  The security though can only go so far and this apparition cinematically telegraphs violence and bloodletting.  It isn’t an altogether successful device, but it is different and in tune with the auspicious film making style

Young Guillory anchors the film emotionally, and the danger he faces is the most unnerving aspect of the film.  Inevitably, when the sneakers are stolen, we know the film will be going into reclaiming mode, and en route there are some startlingly violent sequences when the gangs confront each other.  Tripping temporarily abandons his central focus to chronicle the dangers of everyday life in this drug ridden social milieu (the locale is the Bay region in California) to give the film not only a degree of dramatic heft that properly accentuates the matter at hand, but to illustrate how much is always at stake in a place where death can intrude at any time through a number of portals.  Cinematographer Michael Ragen’s widescreen images successfully maintain the film’s harrowing realism with well-orchestrated metaphysical imaginings.

Though Guillory barely escapes with his life, in the end there is a transformative implication that obsession is a lethal affliction, will set in motion the most terrible of consequences.  Kicks is a gritty, searing work that is content to leave some questions unanswered by opting to examine a nightmarish place strictly in the terms of the art it expresses.  As such it is an essential Tribeca offering.

 

‘Kicks,’ which has played three times so fat at Tribeca will also screen on April 19th at the Regal Cinemas downtown at 6:15 P.M..  It may also gain additional showings if it wins either audience of jury awards to be announced on Sunday, April 24th.