Amazon and IFC have just released the trailer for Matt Ruskin’s “Crown Heights”. The film, starring “Short Term 12” and “Atlanta” breakout Lakeith Stanfield, follows Collin Warner, a man wrongfully convicted of murder. The official synopsis reads:
In the spring of 1980, a teenager is gunned down in the streets of Flatbush, Brooklyn. The police pressure a child witness to identify a suspect. As a result, Colin Warner, an 18-year-old kid from nearby Crown Heights, is wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Colin’s childhood friend Carl ‘KC’ King devotes his life to fighting for Colin’s freedom. He works on appeals, takes loans for lawyer fees and becomes a legal courier to learn the court system. This incredible true story is adapted from the acclaimed This American Life segment by writer/director Matt Ruskin, with Lakeith Stanfield playing Colin Warner and Nnamdi Asomugha as Carl King.
The film originally premiered this past January at Sundance and and our own Rodrigo Perez had mixed feelings, noting: “The movie suffers from a lack of focus. While ostensibly about Warner’s life in jail, the movie distractingly begins to spend as much time with King. Perhaps this is due to the lack of drama in jail … ‘Crown Heights’ works best when the political and the personal merge with the insidious nature of corruption and systemic cultural, societal and economic oppression.”
Yet, the film provides an opportunity for Stanfield to break out of the supporting roles he has taken on recently, and it seems to be a powerhouse turn for the young actor, with Perez observing, “He shines by bringing a lot of quiet soul to the role.”
Ruskin adopted the film from a “This American Life” segment, and the film won the Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic Film at Sundance. In addition to Stanfield, Nnamdi Asomugha co-stars as Carl King and the rest of the cast includes: Nestor Carbonell, Gbenga Akinnagbe, and Bill Camp. IFC and Amazon will release the film on August 25th. Let us know what you think of the trailer in the comments below.