2020 Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto
Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.
If You Give a Mouse a Motorbike
”One way or another, I’m finna be with the Clique, and nobody gonna stop me”
A solid coming of age drama that’s propelled by some fantastic acting, including Jahi Di’Allo Winston, who crushes it as the ambitious dream filled Mouse. It’s through his eyes, that we experience this urban Baltimore world and he completely owns the journey.
Director Ángel Manuel Soto captures everything with an artistic flair that never overpowers the movie, and consistently finds ways to enhance the vision and make everything flow. Yeah, there’s a couple of plot speed bumps and a few too many cliches, but everything else is so well done that it makes it easy to overlook.
BONUS POINTS…
CHARM CITY KINGS is a thunderous directorial effort from Angel Manuel Soto. A robust, thoughtful & adrenaline pumping look at biker gang life in Baltimore. It expertly builds up its characters, settings & stakes to deliver a walloping gut punch on masculinity, growing up & loyalty.
👍🏻72%
YouTube review - Click HERE
2020 list - Click HERE
Fourteen-year-old Mouse desperately wants to join the Midnight Clique, an infamous group of Baltimore dirt-bike riders who rule the summertime streets. Not only does this film feature some spectacular cinematography and impeccable emotion, it delivers for fans who wanted to see Meek Mill give a solid performance. We have a young group of guys who are trying to find their own path, but there are plenty of bad influences around them. This obsession with dirt bikes throughout the film captures exactly what we all go through at one point our lives. Whether we find something we love (to get away from the world around us) or become determined to be great…
This well-acted, earnest coming-of-age story set amidst the subculture of Baltimore dirt bike riders is more than worth your time. As our bright-eyed protagonist Mouse, Jahi Di'Allo Winston will win you over with his charismatic smirk, glistening innocence, & emotional depth. Mouse’s two pubescent buddies provide buoyant comic relief without ever seemingly inauthentic or obnoxious, which is a feat in itself. And Meek Mill is excellent as well as Blax, Mouse’s wizened mentor figure.
The milieu is perhaps the best character of all — refreshingly original and authentic. The film’s specific time/place is what is missing in so many indie flicks. The sense of a real community harkens backs to Hustle & Flow, 8 Mile, and the original Fast & Furious (to a…
Third best thing Meek Mill has done this year behind rhyming “Pandemic” with “Bandemic,” and the time he dropped McDonald’s french fries in the pool.
Loved it. Nothing hits the spot like a good coming-of-age story, and this one really hit hard. Mouse and his two friends have amazing chemistry and their dialogue kept me laughing until shit got serious. I'm unfamiliar with Meek Mill as a rapper, and am only aware of that one line in that one Eminem/Royce da 5'9" song where apparently people were having a threesome on his bike, but he gives a really sensitive performance as a man who is genuinely trying to atone for his past crimes and start fresh. His relationship with Mouse is the heart of this film.
And yeah, you could say that a lot of coming-of-age stories feature a kid with some random adult figure that becomes super important in their life, but despite treading familiar territory, Soto injects so much life in his depiction of urban Baltimore and the bike community. Lots of stunning long-takes in this.
I've been looking forward to this for a while now simply because Meek was Co-starring in this & it's good to know this didn't disappoint that much. The story is familiar of of course but the Bike Sequences and Meek Mill's surprisingly great performance is what makes this movie GOOD
Like Tarell Alvin McRaney meets Carlos Lopez Estrada. The film definitely drags in the middle, and there are subplots and side characters who end up feeling superfluous in the grand scheme of things. The ending is also a bit too contrived for its own good. But overall, it so clearly exudes style and energy and authenticity, building and living in a very specific world the entire time. The performances are strong, the film is well shot, and there's a very touching story at the heart of it. It's evident how much love is behind and in front of the camera in this project.
GRADE: B
Every second of CHARM CITY KINGS swells with importance. Meek Mill should be proud of his performance.
Motorbikes is what Mouse admires,
A movie reminisicent of "The Wire".
Set in Baltimore,
Much like Season 4,
Trying to make money in the quagmire.
There has been an almost empty space in African American cinema when it comes to coming of age stories. Charm City Kings offers an earnest and mesmerizing experience in the journey of a jubilant kid looking to find himself amidst the temptation of street life and the dirt bike scene in Baltimore, Maryland. Some of the best performances of the year and stunning direction from Angel Manuel Soto. One of the new additions to my best of the year list.
Another coming of age story about young black dudes growing up in the inner city. All about choices and making the right one in the face of temptation and the quick fix cashflow found in the streets. This doesn't reinvent the wheel at all but the cast makes it worthwhile. Jahi Winston is one of those youngsters to watch out for. He's been pretty good in everything I've seen him in. Meek Mill was the surprising standout as the ex-con trying to keep Winston's character Mouse on the straight and narrow and out of the streets.
It was a decent watch but I've seen done better before. Take about 20 mins out and this would be much better. Two hour running time wasn't necessary to tell this story.
