A group of teenage boys embark on the wildest Summer of their lives, after a surprise package leads them down a road even darker than their own. In “The Land”, written and directed by Steven Caple Jr, the story centers around four boys named Cisco (Jorge Lendeborg Jr), Junior (Moises Arias), Boobie (Ezri Walker) and Patty Cake (Rafi Gavron), four troubled youths who seek refuge from the dirty streets of their hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. After hitting a dead end road stealing cars for quick cash, the boys discover a package of drugs in one of their stolen vehicles, prompting them to cross paths with a ruthless crime Queen-pin named Momma (Linda Emond). With dreams of making it big as world famous skaters, the group’s brotherhood is tested beyond imaginable heights, and threatening to make their final Summer in Cleveland their last one ever. “The Land” also has cameos from movie stars Natalie Martinez and Michael K Williams, as well as musicians Erykah Badu and Machine Gun Kelly. It is rated R for adult language, drug use, and some brief sexuality.

“The Land” was shot inside and around rural Cleveland, Ohio, and as someone who has spent over thirty years coming in and out of the city, it certainly serves as a visual checklist of recognizable places and landmarks within the place known as ‘Believeland’. This film felt very similar in tone to 2006’s “Alpha Dog” to me, and a lot of that feeling comes from the decisions that four troubled youths face when they are influenced and pushed to get out of the troubled areas that plague them. When comparing the two films, this one kind of lacks the spiritual and emotional punch that the earlier film does, but “The Land” still brings a touch of low income youths rolling the dice on a very expensive game of life. I did enjoy the film, and there’s certainly plenty to praise in Caple Jr for only his second directing effort.

First of all is the cheap cinematography design. That is not to degrade the producers of this film, but instead to give praise to a gritty visual side of film making that really establishes the aura and feeling surrounding a town full of lost dreams and heavy-hearted regrets. There’s certainly that taste of a defeated city that can rise again within the walls of this 95 minute effort, and it’s in that location choice that can really lift a movie above a plot that can feel repetitive and often times plain. Cleveland certainly is its own kind of character in Caple’s story, but it doesn’t always feel like the city is perfectly represented. The story is kind of one-sided, in favor of that wrong side of the tracks mentality, but this is only one story in a city full of thousands of them, and sometimes it felt like they were trying to paint a picture that isn’t necessarily always there. I did enjoy the darker tints in establishing tones, especially with the fine usage of shadows and surprises from things that we don’t catch until it’s too late, from just outside of the beautiful framing work.

I want to talk about the script here, because it can be hit and miss for a majority of the presentation. I definitely enjoyed the second half of the movie a lot more than the tiresome intro, which can feel a little cliche and even muddled at times for the kind of movie the producers are trying to establish. There are some subplots of course with the idea of these kids having big dreams to skate professionally, but I felt like it overlapped the more enjoyable aspect of character backstory during the first act. We know very little about these protagonists besides their environment, and the film feels like that’s all that you need to know. One of my biggest problems was finding the motivation to get behind them and support their success, considering they are making terrible decisions to fund their dream. I had a similar problem with the film “Dope”, in that it too leads kids under the idea that sometimes you have to sell drugs or do something equally horrific to get to where you want to be. The film does portray Cleveland as this place with no hope, but it doesn’t feel like the boys overcome that burden because they only invoke more trouble in a business opportunity that goes south quickly.

The performances aren’t half bad. I mentioned earlier that I had problems supporting the characters because the film gives us very little to work with in their personalities, but that doesn’t mean that the acting suffers the same cheap fate. Lendeborg Jr is electric as the film’s main protagonist, Cisco. This boy feels like the very pulse of this group, and a lot of the film’s smooth flow from scene to scene relies on Lendeborg’s bravery, which never falters in the face of any adversity. I also enjoyed the work of Kim Coates as Cisco’s troubled Uncle Steve. Kim reflects as the very essence of Cleveland and its natives for the movie; hard-working, regretful, and searching for meaning in a life that didn’t quite turn out the way he thought it would. Coates goes through a bit of a character struggle midway through the film, after an intriguing meeting with the film’s central antagonist. It was my favorite scene of the entire film. The best performance for me however, was that of Natalie Martinez. This woman continues to amaze me with superior roles in films like “Run All Night” and “End of Watch”. Here, Natalie carries the film’s emotional response during a third act that feels very crushing to her character. She makes the most of what few scenes she has for the movie, and I felt like the script could’ve used a little more of her and her family during the middle of the movie, where we start to feel that transition into more intriguing territory.

Overall, “The Land” isn’t quite the step in the right direction for a city that is currently rebranding itself as “A City of Champions”, but the visions of some of Cleveland’s darkest streets certainly illuminates a terrifying luster that is simply too powerful to ignore. With some better character detailing, this movie could’ve been extraordinary for a small-budgeted independent film, but as it stands, “The Land” suffers from many contrivances and similarities from films that simply do it better. There’s certainly enough artistic fire on-screen to follow Caple to his next project. I just hope his voice strikes a louder volume with the message he is trying to convey.

6/10