What if the teenagers from Dope were four teenage guys who grew up in a setting like 8 Miles, but about 2 1/2 hours away in Cleveland? And what if Nas was the executive producer and produced the soundtrack (which includes Nas, Machine Gun Kelly - the Cleveland rapper also plays Slick in the film, Kanye, French Montana, Jeremih, Pusha T, and Erykah Badu, among others)? Speaking of Ms. Badu, what if she was one of the co-executive producers and leading actresses?
You would be talking about The Land, and it would sound like a pretty good movie, right? It definitely was, but don't expect a fairytale ending. I don't want to spoil the film, because I would much rather you go out to the theater or rent it online to support it. But here's the gist of it. Four young men from varying degrees of struggling homes (an "uncle" and his prostitute, a single mother and baby sister, a father played by Michael Kenneth Williams of The Wire working a blue collar job to keep the family afloat, and a household full of people including the young man's daughter and baby mother), do not see high prospects for the next chapter of their lives. To help get by, they have a ploy where they carjack people and sell the car to a chop shop. They come across drugs in one of the cars, which leads to them entering the drug world where they are selling the drugs and eventually being pursued by the drugs' true owner, Momma (Linda Emond).
This is writer and director Steven Caple, Jr's first writing and directing credit for a full-length film. Overall, I think it was a job well done. The story kept my attention the entire time, and one of the moments towards the end of the film had me holding my breath as I felt something looming but could not predict what would happen next. The camera shots and angles helped with this, as well. In addition, they really brought me into the film; whether it was the angle during a skateboarding scene that made me feel like I was on a board myself, or the angle when it felt like a character was approaching danger and a sense of fear and anxiousness came over me.
I was most impressed by the acting chops on the four young men who star in the movie. Cisco, the main character, was played by Jorge Lendeborg, Jr. According to IMDB, Lendeborg has only one major acting credit, an episode from Graceland. He did a phenomenal job portraying a complex character. On the one hand it is Cisco who gets the boys into the business of selling the drugs they found. On the other hand, he at times takes on the role of their provider and/or protector. On the one hand, he takes a life. But on the other hand, he protects an unconscious woman he didn't even know from being raped by the rich guy he and his friends just sold drugs to and was partying with in his home. What is most intriguing about this character is he is the only one of the four boys without any family. Of course, that may explain why he turns to the other boys as his family source. The other young men did an excellent job as well, Moises Arias (as Junior, Ender's Game), Rafi Gavron (as Patty Cake, Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist), and Ezri Walker (as Boobi, according to IMDB this was his first acting credit).
The Land has had a recent limited theatrical release in Cleveland, Columbus, Los Angeles, New York City, and Philadelphia. But if you are like me, and don't live in any of those cities, I recommend you rent it on V.O.D. like I did. I just watched it on Amazon Video, but it is also available on iTunes and Google Play. It's worth the movie ticket and/or the $6.99 ($7.57 for HD) rental fee!