| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Ben Crowley | ... | ||
| Ken Leung | ... |
Lincoln Ma
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| Anthony Mackie | ... |
K-Luv
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Darris Love | ... |
Sleepy
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| Laura Allen | ... |
Samantha Wade
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| T.V. Carpio | ... |
Angela Tsing
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| Kathy Baker | ... |
Cleo Wade
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| James Hong | ... |
Kwok
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Lamont Bentley | ... |
Ahmir
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| Ewan Chung | ... | ||
| Omari Hardwick | ... |
Dante Ponce
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| Marguerite Moreau | ... |
Jessica Epstein
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Judy Pace | ... |
Mama June
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| Eyal Podell | ... | ||
| Stanford Chase | ... |
Peter Wu
(as Stanford Poon)
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In San Francisco, a Caucasian family pressed by the real estate speculation, moves to Hunter's Point, an Afro-American neighborhood ruled by the V-Dub gang and the son Nick Wade faces problem with the violent gangsters. However, the drug dealer K-Luv decides to bootleg CDs and get close to Nick, protecting him. Meanwhile, the Chinese collector Lincoln Ma is blackmailed by the owner of a restaurant and he executes him, falling in disgrace with his mobster boss. The lives of Nick, K-Luv and Lincoln are entwined when the drug lord Sleepy protects a rapper against the Chinese piracy of his CD. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
I have to say that I was surprised at how excellent this film was for a "made for Showtime" film (thought I shouldn't have been that surprised since it was directed by Spike Lee) -- it's got an engaging and strong plot line, extremely strong and realistic characters, solid acting, and it keeps moving at a good pace, yet doesn't bombard you with superfluous action, camera tricks, or extraneous pumped-up music.
My only criticism is that it sort of peters out at the end with a somewhat weak, anticlimactic (nearly ambivalent) ending. But don't let my small criticism discourage you from checking this flick out -- it's definitely worth your time to seek it out.