Examining a Young Life on the ‘Streets’

Brendan Sexton III, the self-styled “rapist” of “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” has a still-forming, pimple-flocked face with the kind of downy deposit under the nose that an adolescent never shaves for fear it won’t grow back. It’s a face that, even after the several nasty beatings it takes in “Hurricane Streets,” retains an engaging aspect, even when wrapped around an asthma inhaler, a most unorthodox sidearm for a budding teenage criminal.

“Budding” may not be the word; “destined” may be more apt. In “Hurricane Streets,” a kind of East (Village) Side Story, Sexton’s young Marcus is turning 15, growing up around his grandma’s bar, racing his bike around Alphabet City, shoplifting in Chinatown and selling contraband CDs and sneakers to kids at local public schools; it’s small-time stuff with a lot of growth potential. He has a good heart; Melena (Isidra Vega), his 13-year-old paramour, certainly thinks so.

But his mother (Edie Falco) is in prison, his father is dead. Melena’s father is an obsessively protective nut ball. In the dubious moral universe of independent movies, what these ingredients add up to is Marcus, resist though he may, being sucked into a vortex of larceny and mayhem.

And whether that is really justifiable in the great scheme of things is one of the more dubious presumptions in what is otherwise a generally entertaining little street drama. The acting is particularly good--not just that of Sexton and Vega but aalso of Marcus’ sidekicks (David Roland Frank, Antoine McLean, Carlo Alban and Mtume Gant) and Lynn Cohen as his grandmother and L.M. Kit Carson (who with wife Cynthia Hargrave executive-produced the film) as the barfly-felon Mack. Frequently, however, the cast’s best efforts can’t surmount the more sophomoric qualities of the script--it strains terribly hard, for instance, to use teenage slang without really incorporating it. Occasionally, you can see what might have been terrific performances undone by ungraceful dialogue and less than sure-handed direction.

But at the same time, “Hurricane Streets” (which, as “Hurricane,” was a much-talked-about participant at the ’97 Sundance festival) has a lot of heart. Debuting director Morgan J. Freeman can be credited with creating something that’s more urban fantasia than verite street fare. Kids with beepers and guns and casually violent attitudes or problems at home aren’t rare or new, but dreamers are. And whether it’s the New Mexico of Marcus’ mind or the moon of Melena’s, what Freeman’s characters are about is space and hopes. In this, “Hurricane Streets” is less about the way things are than the way we think they might be, or should be, or could be.

* MPAA rating: R, for vulgarity and adult situations. Times guidelines: The lead character is a young teenager, but his life is most adult.

‘Hurricane Streets’

Brendan Sexton III: Marcus

Shawn Elliot: Paco

Jos Ziga: Kramer

MGM presents a Posthorn Pictures production. Directed and written by Morgan J. Freeman. Cinematography by Enrique Chediak. Production design by Petra Barchi. Costume design by Nancy Brous. Editing by Sabine Hoffmann. Executive producers L.M. Kit Carson and Cynthia Hargrave. Produced by Morgan J. Freeman, Gill Holland, Nadia Leonelli, Galt Niederhoffer. Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes.

* In general release throughout Southern California.