How ‘A Thousand and One’ Champions the Humanity of Black Motherhood
A Stunning Feature Debut from a Rising Visionary Voice
Image: Focus Features
This exquisite portrait of shattered lives shows that our secrets haunt us for eternity.
A. V. Rockwell’s bracing feature debut is an ode to a ’90s NY state of mind saturated with Black cultural influences that place you in the heart of America’s concrete paradise.
Nacho-cheese-flavored sunflower seeds, working payphones equipped with phone books, and oversized gold rope earrings—Rockwell’s homage to her childhood memories gleams with visceral authenticity.
She writes and directs this gripping American coming-of-age drama—a tribute to the power of makeshift families in a world that doesn’t care about their journey to salvation.
We follow Inez (Teyana Taylor), an unapologetic, free-spirited young single mother, who kidnaps Terry (Aaron Kingsley Adetola), her six-year-old son, from the foster care system.
The ill-prepared duo sets out to reclaim a sense of home, identity, and community in a rapidly changing NY.
A powerful desire to be loved and wanted characterizes Rockwell’s raw, unflinching portrait of young Black motherhood.
Inez, like all women, lacks a guidebook to navigate the peaks and valleys of parenting and relies on her survival instincts, which arise out of abandonment and fear.
Similar to Terry, she was also raised in the foster system - no contact with her family and never experienced a supportive, loving maternal relationship.
Armed with good intentions, Inez struggles to manage her anger and maintain stability to create a secure home.
Inez personifies the rhetorical dilemma, “What happens when your best isn’t good enough?”
Rockwell’s inner-city throwback forgoes rose-tinted memories, underscoring the challenge of breaking the cycles of generational poverty and trauma.
She depicts Inez as a multi-faceted, chronically flawed Black woman. While audiences may not agree with her reckless choices, they appreciate why she makes them.
We rarely see the full complexity of marginalized women such as Inez on screen.
In the hands of most actresses, Inez would come across as another urban statistic. However, Taylor—herself from Harlem, New York— softens Inez's sharp edges.
She brings a sense of humility, relatability, and fragility to a woman desperately outrunning her transgressions.
Image: Focus Features
In her first leading role, Taylor displays a vast range of emotions. She empathizes with Inez, seeing a passionate woman, a damaged mother, and a disheartened wife.
Inez operates in a defensive mode, leading to resentment and regret.
Her husband Lucky (William Catlett) is a stabilizing force, but he can't undo Inez’s checkered past, one that still informs her tragic choices.
Taylor, showing courageous grit, translates her brilliant instincts into a beautifully haunting performance. She eases Inez’s battle-hardened exterior to humanize her fierce loyalty.
For Taylor, the mother-son bond Inez shares with Terry is the driving force behind Rockwell’s heartfelt drama.
Inez bears the weight of every tough decision and painful sacrifice to shield Terry from repeating her same mistakes.
Audiences witness Inez’s and Terry’s connection strengthen as Rockwell permeates their evolution with a sociopolitical context.
Over the span of eleven years, Inez and Terry witness dramatic shifts in the city due to criminal justice initiatives and gentrification. Eventually, it becomes unrecognizable to them.
The gifted actors Aaron Kingsley Adetola, Aven Courtney, and Josiah Cross play Terry at different periods of his life. Their ages are 6, 13, and 17, respectively.
Throughout the city’s transformation, Inez’s and Terry's tangled relationship deepens as they depend on each other to stay alive.
Rockwell reminds us that the desperate pair is much more than their challenging surroundings.
Image: Focus Features
Similar to Taylor and Rockwell, I’m familiar with women like Inez—women who had to make bad choices because there weren't any better ones available.
They tread a treacherous path but ultimately persevere and prevail because these women don’t triumph; they endure.
Rockwell imparts a profound amount of guilt and empathy onto a woman who could never escape her crippling secret in its shocking twist ending.
By the time we’re hit with that finale, it's easy to see why Rockwell's acclaimed drama earned high praise at Sundance, winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year.
This makes her the third Black woman to receive the festival’s top award.
Rockwell gives us a reason to root for Inez, despite her morally questionable decisions.
Society quickly judges young Black mothers without considering the precarious situations many struggle to escape.
As the film’s title suggests, there are countless obstacles for Inez and Terry to overcome, but they manage to do it, carrying enough baggage for a lifetime with them.
Very few films capture the essence of a hustling single mother desperate to transcend her circumstances like this one.
Hopefully, Rockwell’s exceptional feature directorial debut offers you a fresh outlook on these dedicated matriarchs, living on a hope and a prayer.
A Thousand and One shows why every person’s story matters, especially those with honorable intentions who are compelled into horrible choices and suffer through the consequences for the rest of their lives.
A Thousand and One is currently playing in selected theaters and available for rental or purchase via VOD.
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