Luv

2012 | 94 minutes | Rated R

Common plays a Baltimore ex-con struggling to reinvent himself as a restaurateur; to raise money, he agrees to run some dangerous errands for old colleagues in the drug trade, callously taking along his 11-year-old nephew as a human shield. The two end up bonding, with the kid learning how to act like a man and the former thug learning to show his sensitive side. Writer-director Sheldon Candis bogs down the familiar story (which vaguely suggests an update of the James Cagney classic Angels With Dirty Faces) with ham-fisted visual metaphors and dialogue that spells out exactly what the characters are feeling. Still, this contains plenty of incidental pleasures, including some vibrant images of contemporary Baltimore and fun character turns from Charles S. Dutton, Danny Glover, and Dennis Haysbert. By Ben Sachs

Director: Sheldon Candis
Cast: Common, Michael Rainey Jr., Charles Dutton, Dennis Haysbert, Danny Glover, Meagan Good, Marc Jeffries, Lonette McKee, Tracey Heggins and Sammi Rotibi