Review
Review originally published at www.theframeloop.com
Jampacked with lofty arthouse endeavours CPH PIX Film Festival proves it has a softspot for feel good cinema with presentation of Adam Leon's impressive Kickstarter funded debut Gimme the Loot.
Presented by The Silence of the Lambs' director Jonathan Demme the SXSW favourite is a platonic relationship comedy about a pair of aspiring Bronxbased graffiti artists Sofia (Tashiana Washingthon) and Malcolm (Ty Hickson). Discovering that a rival gang has trashed their turf the pair hatch a plan to ɻomb the apple' AKA to tag the New York Mets' Home Run Apple at Citi Field stadium. It's a tough nonsensical mission – the likes of which have been attempted in real life for the last twenty years to no avail – but one that our teenage whippersnappers think they have the prowess to conquer. But first they need to raise $500 as a bribe for a guard at the ballpark.
And so sets off a picaresque pursuit for the dollar. Candidly shot across New York's Bronx and Manhattan neighborhoods (presumably without production permits) they hoist in a little help from their smalltime gangster buddies for a series of heists and loots. Apparently anything sells in New York so the savvy Sofia pawns off half empty spray cans secondhand cell phones and used Nike sneaks while a few blocks away the scrappy Malcolm goes rogue with a pot dealers' weed and sells the stash to rich BoHo chick Ginnie (Zoe Lescaze looking much like a young Sissy Spacek). Invited in for a little tomfoolery the inexperienced Malcolm is instantly besotted with her but it won't stop him from swiping her extensive jewellery collection.
Allegedly taking influence from Raymond Abrashkin's iconic 1953 Coney Island classic Little Fugitive writerdirector Leon tells the featherweight story with tremendous zeal and a curiously observational approach that is more akin to the French New Wave than the typical American indy. His New York is not of the resplendent Woody Allen persuasion nor that of Scorsese's foggy urban sprawl. If anything Leon presents the city like the wartsandall melting pot that it really is which is once again reflected in the diverse soundtrack's blend of Rɫ experimental rock and original East Coast hiphop.
While the graffiti surface story stinks of adolescent desperation it is very much a red herring to the real story of oblivious teenage angst and love. Their first starring roles newcomers Washington and Hickson have an exuberant chemistry together which makes their covertly flirtatious banter and naturalistic prattling all the more charming and the stagnated climax at the very least tolerable.
Gimme the Loot is somewhat of a rarity. Nonjudgemental of his protagonists Leon's debut is a sweet natured gangster flick which neither glorifies thug life nor condemns it. It's slight knowingly goofy filmmaking – the likes of which are so rare in modern messageladen cinema and proves the young dປutant his impressive cast and cinematographer Jonathan Miller as promising future talents.
Review originally published at www.theframeloop.com