Paid in Full

Harlem at the end of the eighties. Ace is a quiet young man working at a dry cleaner's and staying out of the drug trade. His friends Mitch and Rico are in it. One day Ace goes into business with a package a customer leaves behind, and because he is careful he soon becomes the biggest of them. He avoids violence and cheats nobody, and that is exactly why he becomes a target. The subject is not the rise but nobody letting you leave. Ace does not get used to the money, does not show off and wants out; but once the business exists he cannot hand back what he owns. The form is faithful to the texture of the period: Harlem streets, fur coats, gold chains and the hip hop of the moment. The violence is not showy but sudden and brief. The production rests on real people. Three names known in Harlem in the eighties, Azie Faison, Rich Porter and Alpo Martinez, are the starting point for the characters; Faison was among the film's consultants and it was he who wanted the story told. The rapper Cam'ron and Kevin Carroll also appear. Charles Stone III directs. Wood Harris plays Ace and Mekhi Phifer plays Mitch. Who it is for: viewers who like American crime films drawn from real lives and the texture of eighties Harlem. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the characters to pay; staying close to the real events, the ending satisfies nobody.