Director: Walter Thompson-Hernández
Writer: Walter Thompson-Hernández
Stars: Danielle Brooks, J. Alphonse Nicholson
Synopsis: A boy sees ghostly figures of other boys in his neighborhood while grappling with his father’s distance. These visions uncover hidden connections between them and their shared heritage.
The new era of rising filmmakers has come back around. Filmmakers with their own style that aren’t afraid to put their tools to use and in some thoughtful and heartfelt ways pay homage to the great filmmakers that came before them. In If I Go Will They Miss Me, director Walter-Thompson Hernandez uses the tools that he’s been given to craft a film that doesn’t hold back on its portrayal of parenthood and how someone’s past traumas can really affect their relationships with their children. As a parent, I know that past trauma can somehow come up in your present with your kids and in building a relationship with them. This story being told from a child and his father’s perspective was really alluring. Seeing both the past and the present told in these ways was an added detail that was implemented by the great performances from the actors, the wonderful cinematography, and the direction from Hernandez.
Big Ant (J. Alphonse Nicholson) has recently been released from prison. Life on the outside is strenuous to get used to but fortunately he has his wife Lozita (Danielle Brooks), their daughter Acacia, and sons Lil Ant and Trae. Ant gets back to his regular life on the outside by hanging out with his best friend JJ (Myles Bullock), working at a local stable with horses and trying to be a good man for himself and his family. His son, Lil Ant (Bodhi Jordan Dell), is very bright with a lot of skills in the arts. He’s not shy when it comes to his drawings and school projects. A subject of his drawings is his dad as the Greek god, Poseidon. He thinks of his dad as a literal god so much that he constantly draws him in school and at home. Big Ant sees this as a distraction from his school work and he doesn’t want Lil Ant to champion him.
Ant doesn’t feel like a hero to his family because he’s been in and out of prison. As kids, he and his friends teased a janitor that they happened to come across while hanging out. Ant assaulted the janitor with a deadly weapon. The police came to his house, chased him through the hood and arrested him. A moment of stupidity as a youth cost him his innocence and ultimately, his freedom. Lil Ant starts to get into fights at school and his parents become worried that he’s doing it for attention. From then on, Ant agrees to talk to their son about the multiple chances that we don’t receive as men of color and how being like our parents isn’t necessarily something to strive for. Being your own person is the real thing to want to be. Lil Ant takes his dads advice and applies it to everyday life. The chemistry between Nicholson and Dell as father and son is favourable. Lil Ant (Dell) looks just like his mom but he has traits of his father.
The portrayal of Lozita by Danielle Brooks is all too familiar with me. She works a lot so she’s not able to be there for all of her kids, she takes advantage of her free time and she has to deal with the fact that her husband is still distant from her after being away from their family multiple times. Lozita’s sister Jenn (Bre-Z of television’s Empire and All American) pleads with her to start a new life with her kids but Lo is hesitant. She wants Big Ant to be there for her and the kids but she’s had it up to here with him continuously being distant with Lil Ant and his continuous infidelity with other women. Brooks is an actress that isn’t afraid to really go into her character’s psyche and bring out emotions that can wash over her scene partners, directors, and an audience. This movie is a real love letter to mothers all over the world. Most importantly, mothers of color, who have to take on a lot of responsibilities teaching their kids that they don’t have the same privileges that other kids in better class and economic conditions have.
Bringing the film all together is Lil Ant played by our young lead, Bodhi Jordan Dell. Dell’s sporadic narration gives us more insight into him loving drawing like his dad and airplanes, also like his dad. While showing these similar interests he doesn’t receive the same attention and care from his dad like his siblings do. This upsets him and he’s overcome with self doubt and little love from Big Ant so much that at the end of the film he tries to do something that can completely alter his families lives. The direction from Hernandez in his scenes with Dell and the other kids is really pleasant because not every director can work with kid actors. He gives all of them the assistance that they need to bring out performances that aren’t outmoded.
If I Go They Will Miss Me is a real achievement that must be seen when it’s officially released in theaters. It shines in all aspects of filmmaking from the performances from its lead actors (Nicholson, Brooks, Bodhi), supporting actors (Bullock, Bre-Z, etc), wondrous cinematography from Michael Fernandez, and the combination of fantasy and real life story elements by writer/director Hernandez. I was happy to see that this wasn’t a typical story about a Black family living in the inner city of Watts, CA. The characters have bold personalities, beautiful personal interests, and they’re keen to do better for their current lives and their futures. This movie will be a hit amongst people that are looking for something original that has excellent mobility, and a story that’s familiar but told in a respective way.
