Sophia Michaels
“A Thousand and One” is a powerful and moving film that follows the story of a mother and son struggling to survive in a rapidly gentrifying New York City. Written and directed by A.V. Rockwell, who’s 2018 short film, “Feathers,” was an Oscar contender, the film follows Inez (Teyana Taylor), a young mother who reconnects with her son, Terry, after she is released from prison in 1994. Terry expresses to Inez that he wants to be with her, so Inez kidnaps him from the state and raises him from adolescence to young adulthood. Over the course of two decades, Inez and Terry grow and adapt to the changing world around them, as Harlem and New York City as a whole become gentrified throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
The story and characters portrayed in the film are not based on a true story, but rather inspired by Rockwell’s life growing up in New York City. She drew from references from women that she knows and has interacted with, as well as her own relationship with New York City as it became more gentrified. Rockwell wanted to use this lens to speak on how those changes affected her as a child and the young mothers in their 20’s that were surrounding her and nurturing her.
At the heart of “A Thousand Words” is a lesson in empathy and understanding that everyone needs a dose of it from time to time. As a viewer, it is easy to be captured by the resilience and sacrifice of Inez, who, despite racism and socioeconomic factors working against her, tries to give her son a better life than the one she came from, even if that means making difficult, life-altering decisions. Catch the complex, emotional journey of Inez and Terry in “A Thousand Words,” which hits theaters on March 31.
