Photo Credits: AMC Independent

Growing up as a poor minority, I don’t relate to many films, such as the film Kicks, directed by Justin Tipping. The film is about a fifteen year-old boy named Brandon who goes out of his way just to get back a pair of sneakers that were stolen from him. I should relate to this film because Brandon is a poor minority and I am also a poor minority. In fact, I can relate to his desire of wanting things. Yet I could not relate to the film in its entirety because besides the stylish casting and cinematography, the film lacked  memorable characters, and thus lacked an engaging story.

Kicks lacked memorable characters because all of the characters in the film pivoted around the influence of alcohol and weed. In other words, all of the characters were the same. Not one character opposed the influence of their surroundings, which made it harder to distinguish the characters. Living in Brownsville, a neighborhood plagued with crime, I try my hardest to resist to becoming another statistic. Yet in Kicks, not one character resisted temptation or becoming a stereotype. Furthermore, Kicks lacked complex female characters. Being a female myself, I was utterly baffled by how all of the females were used as plot points and not as complex characters. I had a problem with this especially with the character Gorda. Gorda’s role in the film was to literally be a love interest to Brandon. Her character was never built upon as she is used to kill Brandon’s time before he confronts Flaco.

Some might argue that the problem with Kicks is not the characters, but the story. They would claim that the story was cliché, as the protagonist’s goal was achieved through a downward spiral of events. Although this is true, the characters make the story underdeveloped. For instance, the film Dope directed by Rick Famuyiwa, is about a high school senior named Malcolm who wants to attend Harvard Law School, but his plan is detoured when he finds planted dope in his book bag from a drug raid. Both films have the same plot formula: the protagonist’s goal is being achieved through a downward spiral of events, yet Dope develops the story with its characters.

The main difference that distinguishes Malcolm from Brandon is that you were rooting for Malcolm. Though Malcolm was selling dope, the audience was still rooting for him because we wanted to see him be admitted to Harvard. Yet with Brandon, you did not want him to get his sneakers back the moment they were stolen. The audience could already detect that Brandon getting his sneakers would not better his situation; the sneakers would not make him rich or help with his false understanding of masculinity whereas with Malcolm, getting into Harvard would definitely better his situation. Overall, I relate to Malcolm more than Brandon because I am Malcolm. I am a low-income minority who wants more than what they are given, as my desires are arduous to obtain. That is the true desire of a minority in America.