A young sketch artist visits a renowned psychiatrist as his life begins sprawling out of control after years of physical and verbal abuse from his father takes its toll in Marcellus Cox’s drama Mickey Hardaway.
“You think you’re the only one, to ever have dreams?”
This is the take-home line from Marcellus Cox’s Mickey Hardaway – a feature-length version of his short film we reviewed a few years ago. It is spoken by the film’s main antagonist, the lead character’s father, and it hits hard. Film has long been captivated with Cinderella stories, movies about people winning against the odds, but they rarely explore them with the expression and heartbreak that is in the raw “Mickey Hardaway,” easily one of the best indy films of 2023 so far. Mickey Hardaway is a film that is deeply grounded in the characters it introduces us to. It is one of those films that stays focused on them while dealing with themes about class, identity, family abuse, and most of all, dreams that can lead to a better life.
Rashad Hunter plays Mickey Hardaway and it is a performance of great maturity. Mickey’s position in life reflects the conflicts that many young people around the world face, being an African-American only adds to his problems, while his bullying and abusive father makes escape from this life seem virtually impossible. A talented artist, Mickey’s work attracts the attention of his teachers and peers, they can see that this talent can change his life, and his work is so good he wins a scholarship to a great college. The problem is his father Randall, played with towering authority and violent menace by David Chatham. A potential professional footballer, his life took a wrong turn and now he takes out his anger, bitterness, and regret on his own family both verbally and physically. It’s a brave performance by Chatham and even braver writing; nothing is redeeming about Randall, he is a villain of the highest order. If he can’t have his dream, then no one else can follow their dreams either. The fact that Randall feels so real makes his awful behaviour and selfishness even more chilling.
Mickey isn’t totally alone in this world, he does have a couple of guardians to help him, his teachers Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Pitt continuously encourage him meanwhile his counseling sessions with Dr. Harden feel like a break from the troubles of the real world. But where Mickey Hardaway is different is that it gives us the kind of protagonist who, instead of feeling like he could disappear into himself unseen by the world, actually stands up to his aggressor. becoming the type of hero we could all learn from.
Cox’s screenplay is sometimes preachy and spends time lecturing its audience, but deep down it’s a movie whose themes are reflected through its characters. This is a hugely confident piece of work. Each performance, every shot choice, each piece of music, and the lived-in setting tell us all about its individuals. It’s a rare movie that doesn’t peak with action but through its dialogue, usually with two people talking in a two-shot with close-ups being used for reactions. Cox and his cinematographer Jamil Gooding shoot Los Angeles in a way that we don’t often see, using stark black-and-white photography, there is none of the glitz and glamour of the Hollywood hills here. The Hardaway’s home could be situated in any of the worst projects anywhere in the US.
With Mickey Hardaway, Cox has attempted to make his own Boyz ‘N The Hood and he’s come really close, he understands that it is human connection, aspiration, and following dreams that can change our trajectory and make us who we are.
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