A Thousand and One

The director maps the contours of a destabilised existence. It is one thing to put us in Terry and Inez’s shoes, quite another to make us feel, as Rockwell does, the ground shifting unpredictably beneath them.

Come for Taylor’s breakout performance, stay for a tender, confidently told story of Black motherhood and sacrifice. Rockwell is one to watch.

The directorial debut from AV Rockwell is rather special.

[A] heartfelt melodrama that consistently sparks and sputters without ever fully igniting.

The delicately pitched performances, luminous cinematography and quiet, jazzy score counteract [any] excess, creating a stately feel that’s rare in stories of contemporary urban suffering.

Sacrifice is the critical ingredient in survival for those of us who grew up Black and poor, and this film knocks that fact out of the park, so well that the act of sacrifice becomes kind of a character.

Teyana Taylor is magnetic as a young mother trying to do what is best for herself and her son against the tide of an increasingly gentrified New York City, many broken systems, and little support.

...through Taylor’s excellent screen work, it functions so potently as a portrait of the real people left by the wayside by institutions designed to catch them when they fall.

A Thousand and One never ceases to engange and, at times, even move. [Full review in Spanish]

A Thousand One stands out for its sophisticated direction and imaginative visual representation that captures the beauty and vitality of the city, as well as the specific economic struggles of lower-middle-class African Americans. [Full review in Spanish]