THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER AND PETE screening at Montclair Film Festival
May 6th, 2013 by Mr. C
Director: George Tillman Jr.
Stars: Skylan Brooks,Ethan Dizon,Jennifer Hudson,Jordan Sparks
Genre: Drama
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete is a down and out urban version of Home Alone with additional subject matter that addresses much of the social and economic issues flooding our cities today. Instead of the suburban home, we are presented with an apartment in the low income housing projects of Brooklyn. Instead of an upper to middle class caucasian family, we have a set of poor, working class African-american & Korean-American single moms. 14 year old – Mister (Skylan Brooks) and 8 year old – Pete (Ethan Dizon) are dealing with individual issues of their own such as being bullied at school and having bad grades but nothing can compare to the real issues at hand in their home life. Both of their moms hustle the streets to make a living and in situations of child neglect it is inevitable that DYFS and the housing authority will get involved. Of course when their moms are nowhere to be found or incarcerated, Mister & Pete will do their best to make due by themselves in their rundown apartments with no resources. Meanwhile, the housing police are on the mad hunt to take custody of these kids. Just as in Home Alone fashion, these two savvy city kids will do by any means necessary to get by until their moms come home. By all means necessary, we mean dodging the police, the local thugs, shady babysitters, thieves, and the local bodega monger or shall we say bodega mongrel!
The film is sad & disturbing yet inspirational and uplifting in terms of offering a glimpse of hope in our society. The theme of brotherhood despite the obvious differences between Mister and Pete was something to make note of. The question of morality and making ends meet is a very thin line indeed. We will see how addiction truly affects our children firsthand. The film exposes the lack thereof of real role models for our kids and the lack of quality time being spent with them. Authority figures such as the Police and teachers are cast in such a light that sometimes they seem to be more menacing than helpful at times. Besides some of the bleak offerings that this film is surrounded by, shades of humor and charm also joined the party. The Pete character is so cute and innocent while the more street smart Mister is very creative and enchanting in his very own way. Mister was a character, though only 14 years old was a kid that thinks on his feet and was able to adjust to difficult situations. Jennifer Hudson plays Mister’s mother in a role that I could have never ever imagined her perform in! Suffice to say, she knocked it out of the park! Jordan Sparks has a secondary role in the film but she plays a very important part in Mister’s struggle. Alicia Keys provides some of the excellent soundtrack in the film!
I did find the film to be a bit longer than I anticipated and felt portions of the movie could of been edited. After the screening the director, George Tillman made it clear that we saw a cut of the film that would be different than the official release in October. I’m gathering it means that the film will go under the knife for further editing.
(Director-George Tillman Jr in the lobby of the Clairidge; photo by mr c)
The Q&A after the movie revealed that Tillman had been sitting on the script of The Inevitable Defeat since 2009. It was a 3 year struggle to make the film mainly because no studio believed anyone would want to see a movie with a 14 yr old black kid hanging out with a 8 year old asian american boy. Hollywood believed that it was a marketing nightmare to try to promote such a film with kids in it but was not really a kids film. Hollywood wanted Tillman to continue making the blockbuster actions (FASTER) or comedies such as he did with – Beauty Shop, BarberShop, & BarberShop 2. The director mentioned that he had similiar struggles making Soul Food. As it goes, he went the Indie route with a 3 million dollar budget for Mister and Pete.
As far as Tillman’s latest project, he stated that he is still working on The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete and continues to think about the film everyday. It’s slated for a release later in the year. He’s trying to get Alicia Keys to add more music to the soundtrack. Lastly, he truly believes in the message of this film and hopes that we all will come out to support it! Stay tuned for the release of The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete at theaters near you!
Tags: 2013 montclair film festival, drama, mff13
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