Review of Fresh (2009) by Lucas Y — 19 Nov 2008

Fresh was terrific. Sean Nelson delivers a subtle, yet convincing performance as a very smart young boy who runs the streets of Brooklyn in the drug dealing world. He doesn't take crap from adults no matter how big they are or how many guns they have held to his head.

Samuel L. Jackson plays his bum father whom he shares a relationship with through chess. I love how Yakin related the boys life to a game of chess. "You're protecting the queen too much. The queen is simply a pawn with slick moves.

The king is all that matters." There are some extremely powerful scenes in Fresh. It takes you through almost every bad aspect of the hood from drug dealing to murder to dogfighting to rape. Some predictable parts don't even matter.

Good performances all around for the most part with the exception of the Mexican kid who got his arm pinned under the car. The last 20 minutes are pretty special with Fresh outsmarting everyone and somehow being able to live, put the criminals behind bars and save his sister.

The final shot of him and Jackson is great. Very underrated film.