Explicit Ills (2008)

A drama of four interconnecting stories revolving around love, drugs and poverty in Philadelphia.

Director:

Mark Webber

Writer:

Mark Webber

Stars:

Rosario Dawson, Francisco Burgos, Martin Cepeda

3 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Rosario Dawson	...	Babo's Mom
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Francisco Burgos	...	Babo
Martin Cepeda	...	Demitri
Rebecca Comerford	...	Kelly
Jermaine Crawford	...	Tony
Namaiya Cunningham	...	Baby on bus
Paul Dano	...	Rocco
Ruth DeSantis	...	Protester
Tim Dowlin	...	Chris
Destini Edwards	...	The Girl
Reign A'Rei Edwards	...	Rally Participant
Joe Hansard	...	Bloody Towel Man
Naomie Harris	...	Jill
Zoe Lister Jones	...	Jen
William James Kelly	...	Funeral Mourner

Storyline

A drama of four interconnecting stories revolving around love, drugs and poverty in Philadelphia.

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Plot Keywords:

love | poverty | robbery | emergency room | graffiti | 

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Taglines:

One voice will change everything.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some drug use

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 2009 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$9,125 (USA) (6 March 2009)

Gross:

$28,564 (USA) (20 March 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mangusta Productions, Bluhammock Productions, Exoskeleton

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Willow (1988)

User Reviews

Quietly powerful urban drama

Crumbling, hollowed-out buildings, trash-strewn alleyways and weed-infested empty lots provide the backdrop for "Explicit Ills," a low-keyed, understated account of a group of largely unrelated people struggling to make a go of things amidst poverty and urban decay in Philadelphia. Yet, despite the grimness of the setting, the movie offers a basis for renewal and hope through a cast of characters who don't exactly fit into the stereotypical slum-drama mold - and in the film's commitment to social justice through unity and action.

In terms of form, Mark Webber's film is more a series of vignettes than a conventionally structured narrative, an approach that actually works quite well given the slightly amateurish, rough-around-the-edges nature of the piece. Yet, despite limited financial resources, Webber has fashioned a stylish, sometimes even quite visionary work that clearly cares about its characters and the community to which they belong.

Those characters include a young couple caught up in the web of drug addiction; an aspiring actor who's struggling with depression; a seven-year-old chess player who gets picked on at school; a sweet-natured teenager who's trying hard to impress his girl; a pot-smoking mother who's having to counsel her son to stay away from the drug till he's older; and another mother (played by Rosario Dawson) who's desperate to get some much-needed medicine for her asthmatic child. The characters have little in common with one another except that they happen to live in the same geographical locale and they're all trying to do the best they can with what fate and, in some cases, their own choices and actions have led them to. The movie ends on a powerful note of optimism and reconciliation after a heartbreaking and gut-wrenching event befalls two of the main characters.

When all is said and done, Webber's first directorial effort is more a work of "promise" than a fully realized work of art in its own right. But if your taste runs more towards the experimental and the "hip" and less towards the stale conventions of commercial movie-making, then "Explicit Ills" might well be the movie for you.