HURRICANE STREETS

SYNOPSIS:
A multi-racial group of teenagers in New York make extra money selling stolen items to their peers: running shoes, CDs. . . nothing major. They all have their own stories, but we focus on Marcus (Brendan Sexton III), a 15 year old white boy whose grandma runs a bar and is his sole family contact, except his mother – who is in prison. His father’s been dead 10 years. Marcus’s 15^th birthday party has to go on without her: she couldn’t get out as she said she might. He meets Melena (Isidra Vega) a pretty schoolgirl, and somewhat of a captive to her angst ridden father. Her mother’s gone. She yearns for Alaska, where she has family. They form a bond that strengthens when they discover the truth about their fathers. In the meantime, Marcus’ team want to move up to car theft, and Marcus resists. They do, however, burgle a home, stealing valuables – and a gun. After a confrontation with Melena’s father , Marcus elopes with Melena. But hanging over him is the fearful consequence of stealing the gun, leading to a terrible complication.

"First of all, don’t be confused about Morgan J. Freeman. The J is to let us know he isn’t the black actor turned director. This Morgan Freeman has directed a number of independent films before, including last year’s Boom, and three or four others. It’s his first time, though as the scriptwriter and also as one of the producers. But to the film: set in New York, but a rarely seen aspect of it, Hurricane Streets concerns a multi-ethnic group of teenagers. They make money through petty theft and meet up in a bunker beside the river, joshing each other. The focus is on Marcus (Brendan Sexton jnr), a 15 year old whose mum is in prison, but not for what Marcus thinks. His dad has died, but not how Marcus has been told. By the time he discovers the truth about his folks, all sorts of things have happened to him, over the two days that the film covers. He has resisted his little gang’s urges to steal a car, escalating their criminal activity to a point beyond which he doesn’t wish to go, and he has met a girl, Melena (Isidra Vega), whose sole parent father has violent tendencies. When tragedy strikes, as it surely will when fate is tempted, the young neo-lovers run. All of this is told with fluency, energy and cinematic prowess, and there is much more to the emotional journey than the surface plot. That’s why it’s such a satisfying film; and the hung ending should make us all consider our own response in the extraordinary situation in which Marcus finds himself. Freeman has a lot to say in this film, about human nature, about the grey areas of morality and about the ongoing, devastating effects of parental abuse."
Andrew L. Urban