Review of Dayveon (2017) by Davey K — 28 Jan 2018

Devin Blackmon, 13 year old Dayveon, exceptionally portrays the subtleties of depression. He mumbles, slouches and-like most sad young men-hasn't yet learned how to express his rage or sadness and generally pretends like nothing's wrong.

This film is a poem about absence; it's just as much about what we don't see on screen. Dayveon's dead brother Trevor doesn't so much as make a flash back appearance so all we have of his image is exactly that, his frozen image.

As "Day-Day" sadly scrolls through old facebook photos and slumps over a shoebox filled with a photograph of his brother and a loaded gun we, as an audience, understand that his inability to communicate is directly linked to the violence and absence orbiting his life like a moon spiraling closer and closer to his heart.

In an attempt to understand his brother's death, or simply to have strong men to look up to, Dayveon is initiated into a gang and performs robberies with his masked roll models; again we see nothing but the reaction of the first robbery reflected in the faces of the men in the car.

Since groups of people talk at once and friends snap shitty pictures of each other with cellphone cameras the movie takes the feel of cinematic realism. If you're in the mood for a semi-artsy coming of age film Dayveon is worth the watch.