Once Upon a Time in Philly (2019)

Back in late December when I reviewed The Wrong Sarah, I decided to try to devote at least one Tuesday a month to get the word out on an indie film. I kinda missed it in January, but I'm hopefully making up for it by doing one for the first Tuesday in February. This is one I found on Tubi as well, and was excited that it takes place here in Philly. Let's see how it did.

Once Upon a Time in Philly follows Ern, a man trying to support his family, who loses his job at a car detailing shop after the owner decides to close. Desperate to make ends meet, he takes up an offer from a customer at the shop, Los, to set him up in the drug trade, which Ern plans to get involved in only for a short period of time, making enough so he and his family can live well, and then get out and maybe start his own detailing business. The problem is, as difficult as it is to get in, getting out is even harder, and when Ern sets up his line of succession for after his retirement, he causes friction within his ranks. Will he make it out alive? And will the empire he built survive without him?

Overall I enjoyed this film. It had some flaws, which I'll get into in a second, but the movie had a story it wanted to tell, and that story comes through in a very effective way. I also loved how well it was shot. Philadelphia is both a photogenic and a gritty city, and director Sixx King with cinematographers Matt Cannon and Xavier Musti really capture that and use it in a way that we get the true feeling of two Phillies--the one that's the subject of myriad gentrification and infrastructure investment efforts, and the one that's getting marginalized in the process, forcing people to make that decision to get into the drug trade to make it out. The main issue I had, is that we have a lot of great characters, but they aren't well developed. Ern (Terrell Angelo) is somewhat developed, but we don't really know enough about his life before the movie starts; and Champ (Sonni Blak) and Jiz (Tyreek Cade) are two that I think could have been fleshed out throughout the film, as they are compelling characters that play pivotal roles near the end. Where are these guys from? What is their story? What happened in their past that's motivating them? We have a crooked cop, Detective Houston (John Fogarty), who we also don't get much about beyond the fact that he wants his share of the drug trade. Where is he from? Maybe Kensington? Maybe a family member dies of a heroin overdose when he's growing up, and that drives him? Even the FBI detective could have been given a bit more of a backstory, because I think there were elements about his character that could've been interesting. The result was we had a lot of short scenes, maybe 90 seconds each, where things happen quick and we move on. I think maybe there could have been some balance there, a good mix of quick hitters and longer scenes where characters develop more and tell us more about themselves--also, with how well-shot this was, the film could've exploited that more with longer takes. Still, the message is powerful, it was well-shot, the performances are earnest, and I left the film moved by what everyone involved was going for. Ultimately that's what I'm investing my 90 minutes for.

From here, it's going to be difficult to discuss the film without giving certain parts away, so here's the warning if you want to watch this first before you hear fully what I think. One thing to keep in mind is, while it's listed as 2 hours long on IMDb, it's actually only 90 minutes on Tubi. To be honest, because the film unfolds as a series of 90-second scenes where a bunch of incidents are strung together, the 90 minutes feels a bit longer. Like in the first 15, we move so quickly from Ern working for a car detail shop, to a drug kingpin offering him an in to his world, to Ern finding out he's losing his job, to his wife Sharon's friend telling her there's an eviction notice on their door, to Ern and Sharon ("Lil Mo" Meeka) discussing it at the dinner table, to him getting the drugs, to him telling his buddies at the bar what's happening. Because that was all in 15 minutes, I looked at the slider bar thinking we were at least a half-hour in. I think the problem was, the people making the film were so invested in the story they wanted to tell, that they wanted to fit a lot in, which I get--and I'd rather a film move too quickly than too slowly--but sometimes when there's too much, we hit that law of diminishing returns were other areas suffer.

One thing I really loved about this film was how, no matter who killed whom, the kingpin, Los (Ruben Rivera), was always still at the top. It sounds harsh, but there was an almost disposable nature to it. The kingpin doesn't care who you are, as long as you're selling his stuff and he's getting his cut. One dude's as good as another if he's getting the job done. It felt like a continuation of Ern's job at the detail shop. No matter how good he is, when the guy who owns the place closes it down, that's it. And in that sense, I think that's why I wanted more development of these characters, because I didn't want them to be disposable. Ern and his buddies are all human beings, and while the kingpin, or the detail shop owner, or whoever, doesn't care who they are as long as the job is done, I care about who Ern is as he's riding the Broad Street Line up north from Spring Garden knowing he's gotta tell Sharon he's now out of work, not knowing that she's sitting at the dinner table knowing she's gotta tell him they got another eviction notice. When Ern gets killed off--and we're told at the very beginning that he'll be killed off--we're left hanging a bit, because to this point he's been the most developed, and we still have 40 minutes of film left. In a way it worked, because you get a sense that things fall apart without Ern; but it ends up feeling a bit rudderless for us as well without him.

The biggest miss for me in terms of this lack of character development was in the character of Jiz, who comes in as a young guy trying to work from the bottom cleaning Champ's, a guy in Ern's crew's, cars. At the very end we get this sense that he has issues stemming from not knowing who his father is, and it would've been good to have him and his story be more of the focus earlier, so when he starts to emerge later in the film, we have more invested in him. Also, we have Ern's son, Little Mickey (Isaiah Pearson) who we have a sense is a burgeoning basketball player, and it might have been interesting to have a juxtaposition between Mickey and Jiz, but the way the film works out, when Ern's killed off, we essentially lose Mickey. It's almost like Jiz becomes the new son, coming up under Champ's tutelage. What would've been interesting would have been to see both characters emerge victorious--Jiz as the new guy under the kingpin, and Mickey as a basketball star, perhaps getting drafted into the NBA. Competitors in the drug trade are coming for Jiz's spot, but who's coming for the basketball star? Reporters? Agents? People with shady business deals? Imagine a sequel to this where Mickey needs Jiz to handle some scam broker who ran off with his money.

 

The number one thing for me was how well this was shot. When I saw the frame above, I knew I had to include it in the review. We always talk about cities like New York being a character in themselves, and what Sixx King and his two cinematographers, Cannon and Musti, do here is make Philadelphia a character as well. At one moment it's welcoming and caring, like a family; but just as quickly it can be harsh and unforgiving. We get the picturesque and the old history, but then peel back the layers to get the areas that don't end up on the postcards or Old City souvenir mugs. As the characters become more successful and move into nicer sections of the city, the violence of the drug game follows them there, including a shootout in the middle of Market Street; and the way we see Market Street, with the nice cars driving by and the business people on the sidewalk, there's a sense for the characters of, you're here, you've made it out, but now what? Someone else is looking to make it out too, and they're coming for your spot. That businessperson on their cellphone headed to lunch isn't going anywhere, and Ern knew if he wanted to be where she was, he needed to get out of the drug game, but he didn't make it; so he dies, while the city in its beauty and grittiness watches, as tourists check out the Liberty Bell and the Art Museum, businesspersons talk on their cellphones as they walk back to their offices, and more Erns try to make it out of their situations using the drug game as a catapult. When all of that is brought together the way it was here, it's hard not to be moved.

And with that, let's wrap this up. As of my writing, this is available on Tubi to stream for free here in the US, which I think is a great way to check it out. This is earnest filmmaking, well-shot, with a cast that's invested in the vision, and ultimately for me all of that sees me through.

For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10905830

And if you haven't yet, check out my new novel, A Girl and a Gun, at Amazon in paperback or Kindle!