I join with my three IMDB colleagues (there should be more!) in lauding this 80s LA kitchen sink drama about the corrosive effects of joblessness and poverty on a black family and marriage. Most of the things I like about this gritty, grainy work are covered by the previous reviewers, especially the always cogent gbill-74877. I would add that I admire the choice that director Billy Woodberry and writer/cinematographer Charles Burnett make to depict fecklessness from within rather than racism from without to be the main adversary this embattled family faces. And I would note that Woodberry at thirty four and in his first film shows a compassion toward his characters that many more experienced and older directors should envy.
Is there a flaw? Unfortunately, yes, and in my opinion it lies within Burnett's screenplay. It is not that the story is too "thin". There is nothing wrong with soft peddling plot to emphasize character, especially when the characters are played by such compelling actors as Kaycee Moore and Nate Hardman (especially the former). However, there is simply too much padding and filler in this film, too many scenes where not much is going on, like Hardman's character shaving and repairing his fishing line, that serve to bring the pace and flow to a thudding halt and that is never, in my view, a good thing.
Bottom line: Agree with gbill that it's a tragedy equal to the one portrayed in this film that Woodberry did not get to make more movies. Give this one a B plus.
