The We and the I

Filmmaker Michel Gondry worked with a South Bronx community development agency and local city kids to concoct this funky docu-drama, which is set during a commute aboard a NYC bus after the last day of school before summer break. A rowdy crowd of minority teens—boys, girls, gay, straight—text-message, boast, gossip, bully, and razz each other, energized by the prospect of upcoming parties, rumored sex hookups, and the reappearance of a troubled classmate following a mysterious, much talked-up one-month absence. Occasional fantasy/flashback sequences serve to open up the tight confines of the setting. Although attacked by some critics for perpetuating ghetto-thug stereotypes, The We and the I is a better film than Larry Clark's cautionary, scandalous, similarly-themed 1995 Kids—Gondry never sits in judgment of his characters (most of the actors use their real names) as they play out a loose storyline that brims with life, fun, braggadocio, and emotional honesty. Highly recommended. (C. Cassady)