“Stand By Me” meets “Pee Wee Herman’s Big Adventure” meets “Boyz N The Hood”? That might sound like an unlikely combination, but hold up for a second. If director Justin Tipping’s striking hip-hop infused street drama “Kicks” is gritty and visceral, it’s also imbued with classic storytelling. The film —which also has the reflective and dreamlike qualities common to Sofia Coppola— is far more than just an urban drama. It’s a flavorful, arresting piece of filmmaking, featuring three stellar performances from relatively unknown young actors.
“Kicks” centers on the currency and power allotted through a pair of sneakers. Fifteen-year-old Brandon (Jahking Guillory) longs for a pair of fresh Air Jordans because he believes it will change his status on the street. But when his kicks are stolen, Brandon and his friends embark on a dangerous, ill-conceived odyssey to retrieve them. It’s a deeply affecting exploration of the cycles of violence and friendship, as well as an examination of masculine bravado.
READ MORE: The Movies That Changed My Life: ‘White Girl’ Director Elizabeth Wood
Cowritten by Tipping and “Kicks” producer Josh Beirne-Golden, the project was conceived in film school. The pair made a semi-related short film (“Nani”) that foreshadowed elements from “Kicks,” and seven years later they brought their passion project to the big screen. Several members of The Playlist team have flipped for “Kicks.” You can read my glowing review and our Adjust Your Tracking podcast team recently raved about the movie too. As “Kicks” expands into many markets around the country, we asked Tipping Beirne-Golden about the movies that changed their lives.
Check out Tipping’s answers below, Beirne-Golden’s on the next page, and more entries from our recurring feature right here.
Justin Tipping
The first movie you ever saw
According to my dad, I saw “The Terminator” while I was in my Mom’s womb. Then it was “RoboCop” on my mom’s lap. My dad told me he took the entire family because he really wanted to see it while we were on a road trip visiting family. My mom probably wasn’t too happy sitting through it since I was a toddler. Perhaps that’s where my subconscious love for grounded, gritty sci-fi started, since I don’t remember the experience but have since watched both films plenty of times.
The best moviegoing film experience you ever had
“Air Bud.” I remember one of my best friends wasn’t allowed to see R-rated movies yet, and we were like 13 years old. And one day, his mom dropped us off at the movies, and the only thing that we could see was “Air Bud.” I thought it was hilarious because I’d been seeing R-rated movies since I was in my mom’s womb, and so we got tons of popcorn, soda, and food. We walked in the theater and there wasn’t a single soul there besides us. We had the best time of our lives. One, we were teenagers watching “Air Bud.” Two, no one was in the theater. We started sprinting around the theater, yelling at the screen cheering Buddy on, throwing popcorn and lying down in the aisles like it was our couch when Buddy encountered some conflict. I’ve never laughed so hard at a movie that wasn’t meant to make me laugh. If it were any other animal movie, like “Milo and Otis,” I swear we would’ve sat down and taken it very seriously. I’m happy Buddy went on to pursue soccer, baseball, and volleyball, but it’s not like he was literally lost in life. At least I don’t think so.
The first film you saw after which you realized that you too could be a filmmaker
“George Washington” is such a simple but powerful story, accomplished on such a low budget. It was a movie I loved and how it was made me think I could do it too. The opening is one of my favorite sequences in film. Now that I think about it, I was definitely trying to achieve a similar tone in “Kicks” amongst the friends the same way they do in “George Washington.”
The first movie you became obsessed with.
“La Haine.” It was the first time I saw a movie that resonated so powerfully for me, because it reflected the diversity and friendships I experienced growing up. Everything about it —the hip-hop, the ramps to slow motion, the impressionistic intros to the characters, the camera floating over the projects from a DJ’s window, the lingering shot of a b-boy still spinning, zoned out from the chaos of the world around him, the bookended interior voice over, the poignant examination of police brutality and how the youth react to it. I’m still obsessed. “Kicks” wouldn’t exist without “La Haine.”
The movie that always makes you cry
“Silver Lake Life: The View From Here.” I’ve never wept so much while watching a film in my life. It’s about love, loneliness, and really the celebration of life through death. Someone once told me that every great film reminds you of your mortality. This film gives you that feeling from the first frame to the last, how precious life and our relationships are. But it’s not necessarily an emotional comfort food movie —that’s more like “let me break my heart.” “Beginners” is probably my emotional comfort food. Or “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” I go back and forth. Both speak to the loneliness and fear of loneliness I’ve experienced. I think those themes are forever resounding.
The movie that always freaks you out/makes you scared
“Caché” gives me a terrible feeling I’m being watched. This idea that at any moment in life, someone might come after you. It’s a different fear from slasher films or ghost stories. Those definitely scare me, but this film is rooted in reality, so you can’t separate it from your consciousness after you leave the theater. You can’t dismiss it because you don’t believe in ghosts or fantasy. “Caché” freaks me out because it could happen to anyone, even moreso today than when the film was made, given the progression of technology. Creepy.
The movie you love that no one would expect you to love
I don’t think people watch “Kicks” and think “wow, he must love “Wayne’s World.” I can quote almost every line in that film. I also have a cassette of “Bohemian Rhapsody” just to play in my car to reenact the opening whenever I feel like it. Good thing I still drive a car with a cassette player.
The movie that defined your coming-of-age/high school experience
I’d never seen anything like “Kids” before. Counter culture was a character. And when you grow up skating down Telegraph Ave, and crate digging at Amoeba Records, this screams “authentic!!” Even though it was this unflinching look inside New York street wear and introduced soon-to-be legends and style, I could relate to honest depictions of teenage interaction. It’s one thing to watch ‘Ferris Beuller‘ and fall in love with that movie and that character, but it’s another experience to see “Kids” and see a reflection onscreen of your own reality.
The movie that defined your childhood
“The Sandlot.” There was something about the Scotty Smalls character that resonated with me. Every kid feels like him at times, like an outsider. This film almost gets better with age, because I could relate to it as a kid when it came out, and now it’s a pure nostalgia high. I love the retelling of the myth of The Beast —it’s pure gold. Also, James Earl Jones knew Babe Ruth! It doesn’t get any better than that. Or maybe it does, because they tell you that Squints actually married Wendy Peffercorn. Looking back as a kid who was multiracial and ethnically ambiguous, I think it was one of the first times I saw a lead character in Benny the Jet that somewhat resembled me. I think that was exciting for me, because you didn’t see too many kids named Rodriguez portrayed and given screen time like that. At least it was the first time I was aware of it.
The film that made you fall in love with cinema
I saw “Chunking Express” in a theater when I was a freshman in college. It was the first time I had ever seen a film that switched point of view halfway through. It was unconventional yet so confident, and the themes are so clear and poetic. Its style was nothing I’d ever seen before. The use of voiceover created a tone I’d never felt before. It might have helped that I had also gone through heartbreak at the time, so those moments when Takeshi Kaneshiro buys the expired pineapple cans as a symbol for when his heart will stop hurting and runs in the rain because he’s run out of tears are devastating and beautiful. I’ll also never forget the use of “California Dreaming.” Since then, Wong Kar Wai has been a major influence and this film also led me down a path towards Christopher Doyle’s filmography. So I guess it took a film about heartbreak to help me fall in love with film.