Explicit Ills2008

Director
Mark Webber

Acters

Paul Dano (Rocco)
Rosario Dawson (Babo's Mom)
Naomie Harris (Jill)
Lou Taylor Pucci (Jacob)
Frankie Shaw (Michelle)
Tariq Trotter (Kaleef)

A drama of four interconnecting stories revolving around love, drugs and poverty in Philadelphia.
Various lives intersect within urban Philadelphia in unpredictable and dramatic ways. Babo, a young asthmatic boy, resides with his mom in a rough part of town, and their quirky neighbor Demitri is intent on improving his life by posing as a smart kid. Elsewhere in the city, Jill is having a marital crisis and must contend with her teen son, who has become obsessed with bodybuilding.
“Webber’s way with his young cast is as unforced as the movie itself, which easily could have been overwrought and maudlin but is instead oddly affirming.” – The Hollywood Reporter
“Gentle, lovely and consistently surprising survey of life in a Philadelphia inner-city neighborhood. The film’s alchemical mixture of race, class, sex and money is far more sweet than bitter, and hardly ever preachifies. Besides, kid actor Francisco Burgos will break your heart.” – Salon.com
“Fortunately, Webber finds just the right balance of entertaining the audience and provoking them intelligently. At an ideal running time of 84 minutes, Explicit Ills is an impressive directorial debut that manages to be a throughly compelling, honest and socially conscious drama.” – The NYC Movie Guru