“EXPLICIT ILLS” (2008)

Starring: Francisco Burgos, Rosario Dawson, Paul Dano, Lou Taylor Pucci, Frankie Shaw, Tariq Trotter, Martin Cepeda, Rebecca Comerford, Tim Dowlin, Destini Edwards, Naomie Harris & Zoe Lister Jones
Written & Directed by Mark Webber

Polly Staffle Rating: ***

Francisco Burgos is a star. The eight-year-old boy hasn’t had the chance to shine bright enough for all to see just yet, but surely he will as long as he keeps stealing scenes and melting hearts like he did in “Explicit Ills,” which is currently making the rounds at film festivals. It’s not like Burgos stood out in a bad amateur project surrounded by a cast of nobodies either. “Explicit Ills” is a sometimes funny, sometimes sad, entertaining film and Burgos is amongst great company as the young angelic Babo.

Most of the names on the credits of “Explicit Ills,” which screened at the 10th Annual CineVegas Film Festival after winning jury recognition for cinematography and an audience’s choice award at South by Southwest, reads like a who’s who of young talent. The lovely Rosario Dawson, who has worked with great director after great director (Larry Clark, Rob Zombie, Robert Rodriguez, Spike Lee, Kevin Smith, Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino), is here as Babo’s mother. The indie sensation Paul Dano (“There Will Be Blood,” “L.I.E.,” “The King”) is here as struggling actor Rocco that meets Babo at a kid’s party and develops a friendship with him. And the film was directed, written and produced by character actor Mark Webber (“Storytelling,” “Dear Wendy”).

But what’s probably most remarkable about Burgos performance is that he isn’t the lead of the film and is probably only in “Explicit Ills” for less than a third of its 87 minutes. Webber’s directorial debut is an ensemble piece in the vein of “Crash” and “Babel” that features a number of separate stories going on all at once. Sometimes they intersect or crosscut, but for the most part they’re tied together simply by the city of Philadelphia and the struggles of poverty.

In one story, Lou Taylor Pucci (“Thumbsucker,” “The Chumscrubber,” “Personal Velocity: Three Portraits”) plays the drug dealer Jacob that falls in love with drug buyer and struggling artist Michelle (Frankie Shaw). We see the couple come together via their vices, we witness them fussing and fighting, but we mostly are a fly on the wall as they realize selfishness isn’t going to take them nearly as far as unity will.

In another plotline, young Heslin (Ross K. Kim-McManus) pumps iron and watches his diet to be like his father, when he’s not playing video games and smoking pot. His mom Jill (Naomie Harris of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”) is an artist that smokes weed for inspiration and attends yoga. His dad Kaleef (Tariq Trotter aka Black Thought of the rap/rock group The Roots) is a health food nut that is trying to open his own business.

Also going on, after being told by his dad that he should have as much sex as he can while he is young, Demitri (Martin Cepeda) pursues a neighbor girl that he fancies. At first, he tries a similar, yet less offensive approach than Brendan Sexton III’s character used in “Welcome to the Dollhouse” in pursing Dawn Wiener. Instead of saying “At three o' clock today, I’m going to rape you,” Demitri tells the girl that he will be kissing her the following day. When this fails him, Demitri then tries to reinvent himself in the image he thinks the girl will find attractive. Slowly though he realizes that all he has to do is be himself around her.

At the center of the film, however, is Babo, the heart and soul of “Explicit Ills.” To say anything about what Babo does in the story will take away from the reader’s film-watching experience. But what I will say is that Burgos, who was cast after Webber saw over 800 actors, gives one of the best performances by anyone under 10 that I’ve ever seen. He makes every moment of his performance count. When he isn’t charming and cute, he’s breaking your heart and nearly bringing tears to your eyes. Like Elle Fanning’s character Debbie in “Babel” or Brandon Ratcliff’s Robby in “Me and You and Everyone We Know,” I wanted a full film on Babo.

Now, aside from Burgos, after seeing “Explicit Ills,” I also have to say that Webber has an even more impressive career in writing and directing ahead of him than his body of acting thus far. This was a great directorial debut, often times reminiscent of early Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing” “Crooklyn”) or David Gordon Green (“George Washington”). In fact a number of times, the way things looked and how they were framed and shot felt very Spike Lee-inspired.

Webber grew up poor in the slums of Philadelphia. Raised by a single mother, he was even homeless some of the time. Webber said during a Q&A after the film’s CineVegas screening that his script was much inspired by those experiences. Many characters were semi-based on people he knew, some scenes were inspired by things that happened to him personally and he even wrote for specific locations. He cast his friends Paul Dano (who he worked with in the urban drama “Weapons”) and Rosario Dawson (who he worked with in Ethan Hawke’s “Chelsea Walls”) and brought onboard cinematographer Patrice Lucien Cochet (who shot him in “The Good Life”) and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (“Dead Man,” “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai”), who he worked under in “Broken Flowers,” to executive produce, or as Webber put it, serve as Godfather of the film. The film’s finale also features a poverty group that Webber’s mother is a big supporter of.

Now, there is nothing wrong with any of these things and filmmakers definitely should work with those they feel comfortable around and write about what they know, telling stories that are important to them. But at the same time, I have a feeling Webber was a tad bit too close to this project. Had he not been married to his vision and been able to back away from it some, perhaps he would have noticed that its fairly preachy at times and also doesn’t fully exploit its best elements. Francisco Burgos, the character of Babo and the relationship of Babo and Rocco are all highly underused. There is also a very powerful moment that features Jacob and a drug kingpin that works quite well as a stand alone scene, but feels out of place.

I think had Webber attacked this project from a less personal perspective, he could have toned down the John Singleton (“Boyz N the Hood”) soap box qualities and also played up characters, relationships and scenes that he needed to. A little rewriting, reworking and rejiggering and Webber has a masterpiece on his hands.

- CCF, July 2008