Fresh

A film about a twelve-year-old in New York. Fresh should be at school but spends his days running errands for drug dealers. He works for two different men and manages both. He tells nobody anything. He meets his father in the park. The man is homeless, alcoholic, and plays chess. The only thing he teaches his son is the game: seeing moves ahead, forcing your opponent into your move, and knowing when to give up a piece. The film joins those two lines. Fresh works out a plan to set the men around him against each other, and the plan runs exactly like a chess opening. The strength of the narrative is the boy's blankness. Fresh never speaks, never reacts, and the viewer learns what he is thinking only from results. Sean Nelson plays Fresh, Samuel L. Jackson his father and Giancarlo Esposito the dealer. Boaz Yakin directed; his first film. It drew attention on the festival circuit and came to be counted among the best independent films of the 1990s. A strong example for anyone who likes crime drama and hard, child-centred storytelling. Before you watch, know this: the film does not soften the violence or the situation the children are in.