MacArthur Park (2001)
A portrait of a homeless park community bonded by crack cocaine addiction. In the park's drug-fixated shantytown, Cody is a kind of crackhead father figure who helps his friends when they are in trouble or in desperate need of a "blast." His girlfriend, Alicia, is a romantic who's losing her soul to the drug, and E-Max is a street hustling pimp who is trying to scoop young Linda into his motley legion of harlots. Hoover Blue, earth mother to all the addicts, attempts to pound some knowledge into the starry-eyed Linda while Cody tries to help young P-Air get his hustle on to record a hip hop track and make it big. But when Cody's real son, Terry, tracks him down to tell him his wife has passed away, Cody doesn't even recognize him at first and then can't help him with postmortem affairs. After five years of crack addiction, Cody wants to get straight and do right by Terry, but the harder he struggles to escape the park, the more it closes in on him.
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Reviews
Best movie of this year hands down!
Good concept, poorly executed.
Absolutely Fantastic
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Actor Billy Worth (The Lost Boys) tries his hand at writing and directing and put our a film that gives a great slice of life in a park in Los Angeles.Thomas Jefferson Byrd (Girl 6, Bulworth) leads a great ensemble cast that takes us into a world where crack is king, and life is moment to moment. Some get out on their own, while others are helped out by a blade or a bullet.Byrd gets help by a great cast that includes Julie Delpy (Before Sunset), Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier), and Cynda Williams (One False Move, Mo' Better Blues).Really enjoyable.
"MacArthur Park" attempts to build a story around a motley bunch of street people who frequent and/or live in the big downtown Los Angeles park. Once the pride of L.A., the park, named after WWII General Douglas MacArthur, is now a marginally maintained place where street people hang out under the watchful eye of the everpresent LAPD. The film attempts to capture and dramatize some of the goings on in the park but only manages a feeble story at best which focuses mostly on crack users, assorted druggies, and other low-lifes. As the film wears on and eventually wears out it becomes increasingly apparent there's nothing new to be found between the credits. Just another "street" flick with nothing special going for it, this budget conscious indie and apparent pet project of first-time director Wirth is one to pass on. (C)
I viewed this film at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York City. Mr. Wirth was present and introduced the film. He held a Q and A session after the showing. The film has some humorous lines in the beginning and then takes off into a realistic look at the darker side of life. The sound track adds to the intensity and reality of this film. Mr. Wirth knows when to zoom the camera in for heightened emotions regarding character inter-reactions. This film deals with homelessness and substance abuse in an inner city park in a no nonsense manner. It is based on the journal of Tyrone Atkins, a man who documented his own personal struggles. You may not like the subject but the acting and directing are wonderful, you feel like you are right there in MacArthur Park. I feel that the general public needs to know that this film is based on fact and at the end people need to know that Mr. Atkins has become a productive member of society.
I saw this film at Sundance and was very impressed. I met Billy Wirth at Sundance 2 years ago and have stayed in moderate contact with him, all the time asking how progress was on this project. An associate of mine bought tickets, not knowing anything about the film, and brought me to see it. I was thrilled to see Billy there and his film was poetic, elegant and real. It was inspiring to see someone, a contemporary, actually accomplish such a dynamic film. Thomas Jefferson Byrd was incredible and obviously put his heart into the role, a role that had to be extraordinarily demanding. Balthazar Getty also impressed me with the intensity he was able to convey with his character. The film had a flow, continuity, and takes you on a roll of emotions, from apathy to empathy, from fear to triumph.