A Thousand and One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

A Thousand and One Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Justin Dekker January 29, 2024

A. V. Rockwell's 'A Thousand and One' arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal. The film has been given a very solid 1080p transfer and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. A powerful and dramatic story about family, this release does not include a Digital Code or a slipcover.

Our story opens in 1994 as Inez (Teyana Taylor) is getting released from Riker's Island. When she returns to her old neighborhood, her attempt to regain her old job as a hairdresser is cut short. Her former employer won't have anything to do with her, stating that she has "a wrap-sheet as long as the [expletive deleted] sidewalk". She has secured a spot, it seems at a local shelter, and after spying her young son, Terry, on the street, she promises that she's changed her ways and will be around from now on. We immediately see that Inez is as good as her word, taking whatever job she can get to earn money and put her life on the right path. When Terry gets hurt while in the foster care system, Inez visits him in the hospital, using the opportunity to get reacquainted with her son. She tells him about her time in foster care, how she lost her sister, and we learn that Inez may have allegedly originally abandoned her son on a street corner. She's had a difficult life and hasn't always made good choices, but she's trying to do better now. But that desire to do better puts her in a legally tenuous position when she impulsively abducts her son from the hospital and takes him to Harlem where she grew up. With Terry in tow, Inez moves through several locations before she is finally able to find a permanent home for them, apartment 10 01 (the dash is missing from the number on the door), so that she can raise him properly and provide for him a life she ever had.

Apartment 10 01 is vitally important to the story on a number of levels. First, Inez's parenting skills and abilities directly mirror her living situation. When she first has Terry back in her life, she is a bad parent. The scenes we experience before and during her stint living with a friend and her mother depict Inez as someone who is short-tempered and both verbally and physically abusive. She may profess her undying love and devotion for her son, but her actions send a different message. When she and Terry move into their own apartment, things improve. Housing stability leads to Inez's ability to enroll Terry in school. She can also make sure he eats regular meals, has his own room, and has toys and video games - a typical, happy childhood. We see Inez help Terry with reading, encouraging him with his schooling, and generally being the best parent she can be.

Secondly, the apartment also serves as a metaphor for the lives of its inhabitants. Apartment 10 01 is dingy and bare when she and Terry first move in, and so is their life. With nothing but the most spartan of furnishings, Terry is left alone while Inez works and performs other tasks she needs to accomplish. Over time, the apartment is more nicely appointed and Terry, now with a new name, starts school. A father figure appears on the scene when Lucky, a man from Inez's past, appears and furnishings and decorations again improve. Though he is likely unfaithful and absent sometimes for weeks at a time, life in the little apartment is on an upward trajectory. The academically gifted Terry is highlighted for testing to move him to a specialized STEM high school, with the potential of attending MIT or Harvard in the future. But when the handle is broken off the oven door in a spat between Inez and Lucky, this small and seemingly trivial damage to their home is a portent of things to come. And as conditions in apartment 10 01 continue to deteriorate, so too do the lives of those who live within its walls.

Throughout the film, we watch New York City evolve around this little family. In 1994 when the film opens, the city is an almost nurturing character. Rudy Giuliani is the new mayor, and Brooklyn and Harlem are busy, bustling, and diverse. Small business abounds and people congregate on street corners, in front of shops, and on the stoops in front of their buildings. After time passes, we hear in the background that 42nd Street is being forced to clean up its act "or else(!)". The city begins to become hostile. Increased policing and the adoption of stop-and-frisk policies target and terrorize a disproportionate number of young people of color, including Terry and his friends. They are victims of the police force's racial profiling but they find ways to survive it. The hostility grows when, in the early 2000s under Mayor Bloomberg, gentrification begins to rear its head in their neighborhood, driving away small local businesses and squeezing out long-time residents as buildings with affordable housing are bought out from under them and humble apartments are converted into much more expensive living spaces that are beyond their reach. Inez, Terry, and Lucky are street-smart and have been adept at carving out a life for themselves with limited means and opportunities. But gentrification is a force that they are powerless to stop. Lucky and Inez lack the connections, resources, influence, and business acumen to even begin to fight it let alone survive it. The city has cruelly turned on them and they have lost.

As Inez, Teyana Taylor gives a powerhouse performance. Layered with nuance and authentic emotion, she draws us in during the film's early scenes as a hustler ready to take back the streets and the people that were hers before her incarceration. She's bold, brash, and brave. That brashness, coupled with a short fuse gets her into trouble, but, as it turns out, they are necessary traits to push her into the all-important apartment. There, she's able to show us a softer side in intimate moments where she reads Are You My Mother? with her young son and with Lucky as the two rekindle their relationship. Taylor is also able to easily conjure a world-weariness born out of the sacrifices she makes for her son and the increased burden and emotional undermining she experiences due to Lucky's frequent infidelities and long absences. We watch her erode before our eyes, not in a melodramatic pool of tears and histrionics, but via small actions, how she carries herself, and the emotional and physical exhaustion she conveys with her eyes. Her monologue in the film's final moments is a more than appropriate capstone for her performance here, as we again, albeit briefly, plumb the complicated and multi-faceted emotional depths of this mother trying to do right in a world that has never done right by her.

A Thousand and One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Thousand and One has two very specific and purposeful looks that change with the era of the film. Shot digitally, cinematographer Eric Yue used vintage lenses to capture a softer 90s look and feel to the image for events that occurred from 1994 to the year 2000. Grain was digitally added to the the first 49 minutes of the film for a more filmic look. White specks and small instances of damage and debris also seem to have been added to create an aged look. From the 49-minute mark forward, or, in the events of the film, the year 2000 and beyond, he switched to modern lenses and the other digital trickery ceased. Across the entire length of the film though, ambient lighting was also typically used. This choice creates an authentic and almost voyeuristic feel to A Thousand and One. While staged to make the best use of the available light, scenes are not perfectly lit which is why it's as if we are watching these people's real lives unfolding before us, rather than a film. It's an effective technique that helps to break down the barrier between audience and actor.

Regarding the scenes from the 1990s, the image definitely looks grainy. It's generally a fine, but noticeable grain that is well-handled. Detail levels are good, but as mentioned above, there is a slight and intentional softness to the image. Arial shots that establish location, chronicle our characters' movements from Brooklyn to Harlem, and denote the passage of time, still possess a delightful amount of detail and enable us to pick out a great many environmental particulars as we fly over the cityscape. Due in part to the lighting philosophy and the emulated 90s look, blacks can absorb detail in both nighttime exterior shots and in backlit interiors. Though, again, this appears to be intentional.

When we hit the year 2000, the image instantly sharpens and grain vanishes. Fine detail increases across the board in fabrics like denim and sweatshirts which both have a heightened tactile presence. Fine lines and fine hair on the actors' faces are also plainly visible, as is wear and age in apartment 10 01, and the apartment building's exterior as well. Even the asphalt yields a high level of detail. Arial shots continue and are even more impressive, especially the shot around the subway tracks which is worth a pause and a very close inspection. Skin tones are universally healthy- looking and accurate. It's a very pleasing transfer.

A Thousand and One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Thousand and One has a very competent and front-focused English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Music is clear and precise and is occasionally allowed to dominate the track along with a healthy bass presence and surround involvement. Surrounds are also used with some regularity to provide a number of atmospherics such as voices on crowded streets and playgrounds, and car traffic in Harlem's exteriors. But primarily, the track is concerned with dialogue and it handles that very well. Voices are intelligibly rendered and are always at the top of the mix. Directionality is good, when the need arises, and the mundane sound effects present in modern, normal, day-to-day life are all reproduced with recognizable authenticity. No defects or issues were noted. English SDH subtitles are also available.

A Thousand and One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

A Thousand and One does not have any special features.

A Thousand and One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Thousand and One, A. V. Rockwell's contemporary meditation on family and identity endeavors to tell Inez's simple story - that of a woman with a checkered past who is still trying to do the right thing. As in real life, it's never easy, the path isn't always clear, much of what matters most is done thanklessly, everything is complicated, and things aren't always what they seem. As Inez, Teyana Taylor turns in a performance that is well- beyond her acting credits and is hopefully but the first significant role of a long and varied acting career. Heart-wrenching but hopeful, and providing an ending that is more rooted in reality than Hollywood, it's a film that will reward those looking for something different and coming to it for the first time, as well those who know exactly what they're getting on a second or third viewing. With a strong and unique video presentation and a capable and competent audio track, A Thousand and One is a gem that comes Highly Recommended.