Anne
B.Real (2002)
urban drama
directed
by : Lisa France
featuring
: Janice Richardson - Carlos Leon - Eric Smith - Jackie Quinones - Ephraim
Benton
running
time : 1 hour 31 minutes
Cynthia (Janice Richardson), a teenager
growing up fatherless and impoverished in the city, spends her free time
reading and writing rhymes. She carries around the tattered copy of The
Diary of Anne Frank that her late father (David Zayas) gave her when she
was a little girl. Her brother, Juan (Carlos Leon), a drug addict and dealer,
steals Cynthia's rhymes, claims them as his own, and sells them to an up-and-coming
rapper, Deuce (Eric Smith), who has a decent flow, but no writing skills
of his own. When Deuce gets the opportunity to record a demo for a big-time
producer, he pressures Juan to get him more material. Meanwhile, Cynthia's
best friend, Kitty (Jackie Quinones), and a concerned teacher at her school,
Michael (Antonio Macia), find out about Cynthia's writing talent and try
to encourage the introspective girl to share her gift with the world. Michael's
efforts are complicated by his former relationship with Cynthia's older
sister, who is a struggling single mother. Cynthia is courted, first by
a good-natured small-time dealer, Jerome (Ephraim Benton), and then by
a middle-class uptown teen, Darius (Geronimo Frias Jr.). She eventually
learns that the increasingly desperate Juan has stolen her rhymes, and
worse, and she decides to do something about it. Anne B.Real was the feature
debut of co-writer and director Lisa France, who had previously worked
as a stuntwoman. It was shown at the 2003 Urbanworld Film Festival.
France's debut feature, Anne B.Real,
is a well-meaning drama with an original premise that still gets bogged
down in formulaic plotting, uneven performances, and drab visuals. Making
her acting debut, Richardson does a fine job in the lead role of Cynthia.
She and Quinones, who plays Cynthia's wisecracking best friend, Kitty,
bring a fresh-faced enthusiasm to their performances that transcends the
rather predictable character arcs. Other performers, including Leon in
the pivotal role of Cynthia's drug-addled brother Juan, do not fare as
well. Leon tries hard, but it's a character we've seen on too many television
police dramas and low-budget drug sagas, and while Juan serves a crucial
function in the plot, he's never quite convincing as a fully-fleshed human
being. Anne B.Real has been compared to 8 Mile. This film, however, has
a more likable protagonist, unlike the monotonously sullen character played
by Eminem. Cynthia seems to have passion and a lively mind even when she's
not on-stage, where she's understandably not quite as convincing in her
freestyle skills. The film's connection to the classic WWII memoir The
Diary of Anne Frank is too tenuous to suggest the awkward title, though
perhaps the filmmakers were simply thinking that the reference would broaden
their film's demographic appeal.