An ex-con moves to L.A. to find work and creates a disturbance by fighting for a position. More importantly he touches the lives of many of his neighbors including an older man dying of cancer, a young married couple whose husband is too proud to accept a lesser position which causes strife with his wife, and a young boy on the verge of getting in trouble with street gangs.
Acting
Fishburne's simmering intensity carries every frame.
Writing
Walter Mosley adaptation with authentic street poetry.
Direction
Apted finds beauty in overlooked neighborhoods.
Director
Michael Apted
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of HBO's late-90s push for serious Black cinema, premiering when theatrical studios largely ignored such stories.
Fishburne developed this passion project for years; the Socrates Fortlow character appears in multiple Mosley novels.
US
