One of my favorite films screening at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival was Justin Tipping‘s feature directorial debut, Kicks, a dramatic comedy about a trying to reclaim his stolen Jordans. A new trailer for the film has been released today, ahead of its premiere in theaters September 9th. The film, also written by Tipping, stars Jahking Guillory, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Christopher Meyer, Kofi Siriboe, and Mahershala Ali.
Check out the great trailer, and I’m not saying it’s great just because it has a quote from yours truly, although it helps.
In Justin Tipping’s feature debut Kicks, nothing is as simple as it seems. Fifteen-year-old Brandon longs for a pair of the freshest sneakers that money can buy; assuming that merely having them on his feet will help him escape the reality of being poor, neglected by the opposite sex and picked on by everyone — even his best friends. Working hard to get them, he soon finds that the titular shoes have instead made him a target after they are promptly snatched by local hood, Flaco. Seemingly the embodiment of menace, Flaco harbors complexities of his own that will be revealed when Brandon goes on a mission to retrieve his stolen sneakers with his two best friends in tow.
Boasting a strong ensemble cast and featuring a memorable lead performance by newcomer Jahking Guillory, the film transcends a deceptively traditional hero’s journey to deliver an entertaining and sobering look at the realities of inner-city life, the concept of manhood and the fetishization of sneaker culture. Visually and thematically rich, with an amazing soundtrack of both hip-hop classics and Bay Area favorites, Kicks creates an authentic and original portrait of a young man drowning in the expectations of machismo.
