:star: :star:
Three Jamaicans, who are deported from the U.S., Canada, and England, must make their way in a land that they are not familiar with.
In “Home Again”, three Jamaicans who are deported from the U.S., Canada, and England, must make their way in a land that they are unfamiliar with. This movie, by the time I finished watching it, felt like it could have been set anywhere; Los Angeles, The Bronx, London, any of the major cities we’ve seen time and time again in movie after movie that deals with such topics as gang violence and initiations, rape, drug use and murder. I do give the producers applause for taking on a relatively unknown topic, that of people who were brought to the U.S. or Canada by their parents when they were children and if a crime is committed by them as adults, regardless of how small the crime is, unless they are U.S. or Canadian citizens, they can quite possibly be deported back to their country of origin, regardless of whether they know anybody there.
Dunston (Lyriq Bent) is a tough American criminal trying to go straight, Marva (Tatyana Ali) is a Canadian mother deported away from her young children because of a foolish mistake and Everton St. Clair (Stephan James) is an upper-class English schoolboy who got caught joyriding in his friend’s car while also carrying some drugs. As they try to land on their feet, Dunston hooks up with his cousin who happens to run with the local crime lord and we feel for him when he’s asked to kill a man he doesn’t even know, in order to prove himself. Marva stays with a distant relative and because she is young and pretty, her Uncle constantly tells her that he will help her bring her kids to Jamaica to be with her, as long as she pleases him but he has no intent on helping her. With nowhere to go and nobody to talk to, it breaks your heart to see that she’s unable to do anything about her situation.
Everton meets a young girl and with his suave British accent, he talks her into letting him stay in her mother’s old house but when her family finds out, they beat Everton up and he ends up living on the streets. The acting by all involved was solid but the trouble I had with the film was once the opening titles explaining the deportation process fades, the rest of the film falls into familiar territory, with the ex-con trying to go straight but because of circumstances that are out of his control, he ends up getting back in the game. We’re also given brief back stories on each of the characters and it seemed like the producers wanted to play it safe and show that all three ended up in this situation not because they were violent and hardened criminals, but instead, that each of them did what they did either out of foolishness or because they believed they were standing up for what they thought was right.
It was interesting, watching Dunston, a real tough guy, ending up in a gang and having to deal with ruthless criminals a hell of a lot tougher than him but the one character I had the most trouble with, was Everton. Coming from a very privileged background, he’s used to talking down to and belittling others he deems less smart than him and once he arrives, he continues this streak. Even when he’s homeless and makes a friend with another deportee who sticks his head out to get him a job and a place to stay, he’s still very ungrateful. We get a few scenes of him talking on the phone with his mother, who fills us in on the status of his appeal but this juxtaposition does nothing more than show just how obnoxious he really is but by then, I stopped caring about him altogether.
I found the film overall, had too many unbelievable coincidences, including a climax where all three characters inexplicably meet. By the end of the film, two of the three characters get a happy ending and I’m sure you can work that one out. I also found it discouraging that the overall impression of Kingston was that of a cesspool of drugs, gang violence, exploitation and discrimination but I guess the filmmakers wanted us to feel for the plight of the three characters because of their surroundings. Well, two out of three isn’t bad.
In stores November 12th
