this is the thread where i talk abt one of my favourite movies--FRESH--and ask anyone out there in ILX-land if they've seen it.

1) Samuel L. Jackson's greatest performance?...

1a) ...and it wasn't even the best one. Is Giancarlo Esposito doing anything these days? Why is he not a star?...

1b) ...not to mention Sean Nelson! I saw him on some Law & Order ep. a while back; besides that, nothing! The Peter Ostrum syndrome prhaps?

2) Also, what happened to Boaz Yakin? (after this movie, he went on to direct A Price Above Rubies, and the sequels to From Dusk til Dawn and Dirty Dancing)

3) its representation of the ghetto: accurate-unflinching or melodramatic-racist?

4) best screenplay ever?

5) FUCK WILL SMITH!! (search Fresh on iMDB and you'll see what I'm talking about)

6) has anyone out there SEEN this superb movie?! it was nominated for but didn't make the ILX top 100 1990s films poll that was done a while back...a total travesty!

(was not aware of nu-ILXes inability to compute apostrophes...my bad...)

Is this a movie about a ghetto kid who plays chess? I remember it looked really good when it came out and then I never saw it.

btw I don't think Dirty Dancing came out after this.

first post: yes. it IS really good. my favourite 90s film

second post: Yakin directed Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights.

didn't think I'd get to recycle this link ever

http://www.tampahiphop.com/audio/krams_old_school_pick/FRESH%203%20MCS%20-%20FRESH.mp3

I saw this film when it came out but I don't remember a thing about it. Until very recently I labored under the misconception that the kid in the movie was Harold Perrineau Jr. -- then I discovered that HP is way older than I thought he was and would've been like 30 when the movie came out.

I used to love this film, back in the 90s. Haven't seen it for a while, as people kept getting (understandably) worked up over the scene where he kills his dog.

I would love to get ahold of Stewart Copeland's score for this.

Giancarlo Esposito is indeed awesome, though. Last thing I saw him in was SherryBaby, but it's true that he doesn't get a whole lot of high-profile roles.

I enjoyed this movie when it was released, but I didn't think it was particularly noteworthy. Haven't seen it in at least fifteen years, though.

that reminds me, l.l.n.l....do you know why Fresh killed the dog? I could never fit it in with the whole plan.

(this is prolley where the spoilers start. go watch this movie before reading on.)

I kinda hate Samuel Jackson but yeah this movie is great. I heart chess metaphors.

great ending too

"1b) ...not to mention Sean Nelson! I saw him on some Law & Order ep. a while back; besides that, nothing! The Peter Ostrum syndrome prhaps?"

Ooooh he's amazing in the Corner.

This movie is good, if a little preposterous.

blanking on the dog-killing thing, altho I remember the scene

bah Ebert knows but does not say!

oh wait...is it like Fresh testing himself to see if he can go through with his plan, which he knows will get a bunch of people killed?

xpost to Shakey...I know! I read that review too and I was like "I don't know! Why did he do it?"

but I think I kind of figured it out...just now...

preposterous alex? it seems contrived at times, but to consider it preposterous seems to put you on the same level as Corky the crack kingpin.

Sure contrived works too. It just didn't seem very believable to me.

I dunno is it any more preposterous or contrived than, say, a Fistful of Dollars or Yojimbo?

The first 75% of Fresh seems to be striving for a certain level of realism. The last 25% goes in a completely different direction, one that I found stretched credibility at points.

Contrived moments in Fresh:

-the notion that playing chess w/ his father and going to his house inspired his plan. As psychology/character motivation it's meh, but as extraordinarily subtle foreshadowing it's ACES.

-when he goes out on the hood of Esteban's car during the gunfight @ James' place. I read a review that bitched about this, and after some thought, I kinda see what the reviewer meant. Esp. after seeing Jake and Darryl (?) being beaten to death w/ chains (to me, that scene is the one that's hard to take, moreso that we never actually see it, but only watch Fresh watching it). It seems he would be jut a bit gunshy after that, certainly not chomping on a candy bar like he was watching some wicked-ass movie.

These are both nit-picks though...

xpost so you think Fresh's plan is irrealistic....

(i disagree.)

In large part, yes, and yes the whole chess metaphor with it was kind of cheesy and over-the-top. It's been a long time since I've seen the movie so I can't cite specifics, but my general impression of the ending was that it seemed kind of far-fetched.

I fit wasn't so well-grounded in what had happened before, then the ending would be far-fetched, but...

Fresh is basically Iago as a preteen antihero trapped in the ghetto. The chess metaphor just brings this home. It verges on cheesy but I don't ever think it ever actually achieves it. The fact that he is a preteen may make the movie seem improbable, but actually his age is his biggest asset, in that bcz he is young nobody for a second believes he is capable of such subterfuge, and certainly that he is capable of making dupes of them all...so...

Also, chess is a neat way of showing Fresh's intelligence without ever betraying his stony reserve. Check the scene in the park where he obliterates the shark.

nah the ending is great - very stark, its just a silent shot of him going to see his dad in the park, iirc

^(A microcosm of the movie, that scene is.)

yeah Shakey, as far as final shots go, Fresh trumps all.

When I say the ending I mean the whole plot not the final scene of him crying while playing chess with with his dad.

And when I say the whole plot, I mean his plan, not the whole plot of the movie.

And when I say things I actually type them.

lol

when i type 'lol' it actually looks like a stick figure man* raising his arms above his head

*or woman...stick figures are abstract like that.

great movie...soundtrack (not the score) had some awesome wu gems too : )

wu? as in wu-tang clan?