Favorite Film Series [Wk:3]

This week's film is a documentary, one that I watched at the San Diego Film Festival in 2009. I found it very, very well done and also incredibly engaging.

Prince of Broadway (2008) Dir. Sean Baker

Why this film: Set in an urban, immigrant community in New York City, the film centers around Lucky (Prince Adu) and Prince (Aiden Noesi), the "son" Lucky wants nothing to do with. As a barely-aware infant, Prince's "performance" is both touching and heartbreaking, so much so that it is almost unbelievable that this film is fictional drama and not a documentary. Getting an infant like that to behave and perform in that way speaks of a director's ability to get it right and also speaks to the director's ability to be patient with his vision.
The relationships between characters in this film can probably be only characterized as brash and tolerating, but it is the relationship between Lucky and Prince that is probably the most engaging. It's a gut-wrenching story of hope and humanity, where the question about "What will happen to the child?" always looms in the audience's mind. But the film is also humorous in the painful kind of way, things that shouldn't be funny but it is.
If nothing else, I commend Dir. Baker on his approach to the film, rejecting the delineation between fiction and documentary. It is a difficult approach and I think he executes it very well. (With a little luck on his side, I'm sure)

Availability

Netflix: Available
Amazon.com Instant Video: Not Available
SDSU: Not Available
UCSD: Not Available
San Diego Public Library: Not Available

(Note: According to Amazon.com, this film is being released in October 2011. No idea why it is being released 3 years later. Anyway, I imagine with the pre-order pub for the film that it will eventually be available at the very least on Amazon Instant Video)