One Week

It's a cold snowy winter in Chicago and Varon Thomas (Kenny Young), a high school dropout and son of drug addicts who's in the process of straightening out his life, is all set to marry the beautiful and intelligent Kiya (Saadiqa Muhammad) and be welcomed into her caring family. But when Varon shows up on an HIV partner list at a local clinic, things begin to spiral out of control as past lovers coming back to haunt him are added to job woes and parking tickets. What would you do, Carl Seaton's One Week asks, if your world collapsed in seven days? While this is Seaton's first feature (and it shows in minor continuity problems, fade-in-fade-out montages to show the passage of time, and flashy color-tinted cinematography or inappropriately melodramatic music), the script--which he co-wrote with Young--sports a rich streak of dark humor that lifts One Week above its generic cautionary tale trappings. A strong optional purchase. (D. Fienberg)