REVIEW: ‘A Thousand And One’ Highlights The Selfishness Of Parenting

Parenthood is inherently selfish. To choose to bring a child into the world means to do so without their consent—without a guarantee of a good life, a safe life, or a happy life. When Inez (Teyana Taylor) chooses to kidnap her own son Terry ( played by Aaron Kingsley Adetola, Aven Courtney, and Josiah Cross) out of the foster system in A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, sure she’s doing it to protect him, but she’s doing it because she selfishly wants to raise him. She wants to be the one to do it, and she wants to be the one who lifts him higher than she was ever able to be lifted herself.

Rockwell has crafted a perfect display of the crossroads of two universal truths: every parent wants their kids to achieve more than they did, and America will do everything in its power to make sure that doesn’t happen, especially if you’re not white. Inez is the epitome of what every American Dream enthusiast would claim to admire in a person. She works so hard to break past the traumas dumped on her by her upbringing. She works so hard to get out of trouble, get a job no matter the cost, find a husband, and build a loving and beautiful home. But it’s still not enough.

A Thousand and One is set against the backdrop of New York City at the turn of the century, with its tough on crime, poverty is a shame, blight is a disgrace-mayors looming in the background at every turn. It’s not enough to take Terry out of hell and give him a good life. Inez can prove herself again and again and nothing will ever change the fact that their life is based on a lie. Working hard can’t fix it. The dueling commandments – do better than your best but never expect it to be enough – are portrayed perfectly by the cinematography, always tilting the camera up to look at Inez like a giant or hiding it around a corner or over a shoulder to make the possibilities feel more narrow.

The editing, however, feels a bit too on the nose whenever radio broadcasts of the NYC mayors play over random city aerial shots. I know it’s probably trying to elicit a sense of changing times without changing prospects, but they may have been more effective if they were seamlessly played on actual radios during time-skip moments. Other musical moments play through headphones or speakers, so why not these?

What does work in the two-time skips is the consistency in Terry’s characterization. Having three different actors of various ages play the same character cannot be easy, and each actor brings the same sheepish, witty, overwhelmed sense to the character. The fact that he’s a quiet kid with awkward social skills helps mask the quality of some of the performance moments, but on the whole, the fact that each new age truly felt like a continuation of the same character was essential to the movie’s power. Each successive age felt like it was building on what already came before, as Terry goes from a kid who barely talks to a kid who only talks when it’s necessary to a teenager who knows the power of his words and the way that he ought to use them with his parents.

Because his parents are still ultimately selfish people, no matter how good they do by him. Taylor wears the burden of her circumstances immaculately, oscillating between moments of super mom and panic. And Lucky (William Catlett), the father who stepped up, makes for an excellent foil to her. Where Inez is a tough lover, Lucky is a quiet, emotionally challenged figure. But what makes both of their characters and performances stand out is that no matter absolutely what, they are both steadfast in their love and their commitment to their family. They are selfish, and they do not let you forget that, but their selfishness only helps humanize them both as Terry struggles to accept that his life is full of privilege and he should feel entitled to harness its advantages, even while other parts of his life will always be stunted.

A Thousand and One is a stunning saga, and not just because of its earth-shattering twists and devastating plots. It’s as real a portrait of parenthood as film could capture, and it’s equally as challenging a look at one kid’s life torn between opposing forces, unforgiving realities, and unconditional love in action.

A Thousand and One is playing in theaters on March 31st.