Kicks

Brandon is fifteen and lives in Oakland. Nobody notices him; he is short, quiet, and carries no weight in the neighbourhood. He saves for a long time and buys a pair of trainers. They do not last a week: a group in the neighbourhood beats him and takes them. Brandon decides to get them back. With two friends he sets out to find the man who took them; the man is in another city and is dangerous. Along the way none of the three questions what they are doing. Justin Tipping directs. Jahking Guillory plays Brandon; Mahershala Ali is in the cast. It is the director's first feature. The matter the narrative builds is not an object but standing; the shoes are a mark of status and the film shows directly why that matters so much. Its visual language is built on slow motion and dream scenes; through the film Brandon sees an astronaut walking in space. The Oakland locations are real and the narrative carries the economic condition of the area in the background. The character played by Mahershala Ali appears in the film's most striking section and explains the cycle of violence. The ending does not present revenge as a gain and the narrative stops there. It was shown at festivals and drew attention in American independent cinema. Who it is for: viewers who like youth drama and independent films set in the city. Who it is not for: the violence is explicit, the pace uneven, and the dream scenes break the narrative.