movie reviews

Explicit Ills

Without people, a neighborhood would just be a bunch of buildings. Or so argues Explicit Ills, the directorial debut from actor Mark Webber, which weaves together four residents’ stories in a rough part of Philadelphia. The movie opens with snapshots of abandoned buildings, composed as poetic portraits of urban landscape, but like these exterior shots of the destitute Philadelphia neighborhood, the movie never really invites the viewer inside.

The film follows the lives of a drug-dealing white kid in love with his bougie art student client, an asthmatic seven-year-old, a young family on the verge of getting kicked out, and an a boy who tries to look smart to impress a girl. These characters are supported by some fine actors: Rosario Dawson as mom to asthmatic kid Bebo, Paul Dano as a part-time party ninja and wannabe actor, and Tariq Trotter (a.k.a. vocalist Blaq Thought from Philly’s own hip hop wunderkind, The Roots) as a prospective small business owner.

The residents of this Philly neighborhood try to better themselves or escape. Kaleef (Trotter) is trying to help his family by starting a health food store and instill upon his son, Helsin, the ethics of hard work. “When I get my biceps a little bigger I can finally relax,” Helsin says during one of his compulsive weight training routines. The young Demitri wants to impress a girl, so he dons glasses and carries books to make her think he’s smart. But others try to escape through drugs.

Whereas films like Amores Perros tie together multiple storylines into a tight network, Explicit Ills wanders from story to story, subtly emphasizing the points of overlap in their lives. Taking a stylistic cue from Jim Jarmusch, who executive produced the film and directed Webber in Broken Flowers, the movie emphasizes naturalness and realness. But this attempt doesn’t quite succeed as the characters fall into slightly archetypal caricatures. Like some of Jarmusch’s films, Explicit Ills loses its center as the plot slowly expands like the universe after the Big Bang.

The movie’s theme is concerned with an archetypal brand of activism that has been popularized of late. The message is simple: everyone is connected. This isn’t a new message, as it has been similarly espoused through many so-called social commentary movies like Crash and Crossing Over. The change is the landscape and the treatment of race in Explicit Ills.

American poverty is largely ignored in the media and in film, and Explicit Ills depicts it not as something aberrant or strange, but rather as a real environment that people are born into and must deal with however possible. No one is bitter about their fate, instead they just cope with it. “I saw a show about poverty, and it looked like my family,” Bebo says. The film’s treatment of race follows a similar trajectory: your race is also part of the landscape you’re born into and, ultimately, it’s your fate. In this casualness of showing black people as being people first and black second, Webber conveys a realness that rarely comes from a white director. His failure appears to be guilt, however, as evident in his portrayal of the “white” storyline of the drug dealer and his artist girlfriend, which follows a predictable dishing out of pot hazed ennui. For another example, refer to Topher Grace’s weed-glazed race rant in Traffic.

Webber’s has a unique personal relationship with Philadelphia. As a kid, he and his mother were homeless, living in cars and abandoned buildings. With this context, the film becomes a relatively interesting comment on Webber himself, as we see buildings and areas that he very well could have lived in as a kid. But the story must stand alone, regardless of Webber’s experience.

Certainly, Explicit Ills is a good looking movie. Many shots are strangely beautiful urban still lifes, but the visuals don’t save it. Overall, it feels like a troubled debut. Sure, Webber’s film movie is, visually, like a tenth outing for many budding filmmakers, but it falls victim to an attempt to be too hip. A cool score by a member of the Roots, “edgy” parties, and drug use—these are all “cool” on paper, but ultimately make the movie feel a bit juvenile. As a first film, Explicit Ills is mildly successful, but it is still gravely flawed. Webber shows great promise, so let’s keep an eye on him.

By Drew Tewksbury

from Artist Direct, 03.19.09

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© 2009 Drew Tewksbury: Multimedia Journalist.