Ricky recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, read on below for our review of the film. Ricky won the Directing Award: US Dramatic at the festival. The synopsis is as follows:
Newly released after being locked up in his teens, 30-year-old Ricky navigates the challenging realities of life post-incarceration, and the complexity of gaining independence for the first time as an adult.
Ricky is the debut feature of director Rashad Frett, written by Frett and Lin Que Ayoung.
The film aims to highlight the difficulties that recently incarcerated people face with integrating back into daily life. The first half of the film is better than the second half, the events get more and more outlandish as the film progresses. It loses some believability, which is a shame as I think it is an important subject.
The film works because of Stephan James’ (If Beale Street Could Talk, Homecoming) portrayal of Ricky. He does a lot of the heavy lifting of making Ricky work. Ricky having been locked up half his life and being an adult on the outside for the first time makes him seem unsure of himself and at times uncomfortable in his own skin. James portrays this perfectly; you see the pain and confusion in his eyes as he tries to work out who he is and how to be. It is a masterful performance.
The rest of the cast is very much in the background. Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary, Sister Act 2) is Ricky’s parole officer, Joanne. She makes her mark on the film despite limited screen time. Joanne is straight to the point and doesn’t pull any punches when laying down the law to Ricky.
The character of Cheryl was a little too much for me, her actions didn’t make a whole lot of sense. She is a woman that Ricky meets at his court mandated meetings with other ex-cons. There are some people in life who act in outlandish ways, but it didn’t seem natural and was only there to further the plot and escalate Ricky’s trouble quickly. Andrene Ward-Hammond (Loving, Your Honor) does her best with the character, but it didn’t really work for me.
The cinematography gives the film a gritty feel, which suits the subject matter. Sam Motamedi (Lump) is the DP and uses a lot of handheld camera work. The raw energy it gives the film adds to the performances and conveys the turbulence of Ricky’s life. The camera work occasionally gets a little too unstable but, on the whole, it adds to the texture of the film.
Ricky is a great character study into someone who is normally ignored and pushed to one side in society. It shows you how the system isn’t really helping people who get released, and how difficult it is to meet all the terms of parole. It doesn’t get too preachy, showing rather than telling. As I said earlier, the way the events ramp up in the second half of the film is a little much. However, Ricky is still worth watching. Stephan James makes this film what it is.
Ricky is still seeking distribution at time of writing, so keep a look out for it in the near future.
