With its unflinching look at the failures of our criminal justice system, William Bermudez and Sam Friedman’s Grassland is a powerful and important social justice drama. Through the microcosm of a single Latina mother who grows and sells marijuana to provide for her young son, the filmmakers have something important to say regarding racial imbalance when it comes to incarceration for minor marijuana offenses.

Written by the directors (along with David Goldblum and Adam Edery, who also produced), Grassland introduces Leo, a sweet and sensitive young Latino boy (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) who lives with his mom, Sofia (Mia Maestro) in New Jersey where she cultivates and sells pot to make ends meet. Her friend, Brandon (Quincy Isaiah), helps her out by watching over Leo and keeping him away from her “business”.

As Brandon is African-American, Sofia wants to utilize his ability to connect to her younger Black male customers, pleading with him to be her courier. Declining the offer, he explains how getting caught could destroy his life. Brandon is one of the film’s most heartbreaking characters. He is a man with a charge of shoplifting on his record (a mistake from his youth) who cannot find a job. His dedication to Sofia and Leo make him part of the family allowing for a sweetness that makes viewers root for him. Brandon is written to symbolize the unfair (and blatantly racist) treatment of people of color regarding drug offenses. Isaiah is quite excellent, keeping the role grounded in honesty while representing those who have reentered society after incarceration and find themselves unemployable, despite a focused effort to rebuild their lives.

Danger arrives in the form of the new tenants who move in downstairs from Sofia and Leo, John (Jeff Kober) and his grandson Tom (Sean Convery). Leo seems happy to see another child his own age, but his potential new friend’s grandad is a policeman; the shock of seeing his cruiser in the driveway sending Sofia into immediate panic mode.

In another of Grassland‘s well-crafted roles, Jeff Kober once again proves to be one of our most undervalued character actors. From his first moment, Kober unnerves the peaceful atmosphere and puts the characters (and audience) on alert.  John seems to be a lonely man looking for human connection. When the reason is revealed as to why he is the caretaker for his grandson, John’s presence becomes something more while his interactions with Sofia, Leo, and Brandon will change the course of everyone’s lives. Kober takes a character that symbolizes so much and prevents him from becoming a cliché. The actor fully inhabits the mindset of a man at the end of his career whose social views have been polluted by his narrow worldview. Kober never strikes a false note. This is strong work from a fine actor.

Maestro and Cabot-Conyers have some beautiful moments together, as both actors capture the struggles of single motherhood that bring them closer together. Leo sees his mom as his whole world. Though what Sofia does is illegal, she is looking to sell off her last batch and get out. Wanting only the best for her young son, this is a mother trying to stay afloat during the Great Recession of 2008. Maestro does excellent work portraying a woman with a big heart but a misguided sense of the consequences of her business.

Cabot-Conyers is equally great, playing Leo with a natural curiosity and genuine soul, without a hint of “acting”. This young man should have a long career.

While the picture gives way to a bit of melodrama in its final act, the directors make it work due to their commitment to creating such believable characters. The grounded screenplay has been so well-crafted and the film so perfectly cast, the audience finds a real connection to this collection of broken souls just trying to find their place. What transpires in the finale is intensely moving and shows the outcomes caused by the complexities of systemic failure and how everyone becomes a victim.

Grassland was inspired by William Bermudez and Sam Friedman’s own experiences. Friedman explains how, in high school, his mother started growing weed in her bedroom. Because of this, his “suburban normalcy” was shattered, as his friends were no longer allowed to come to his house and the young man began to resent what his mom was doing. Bermudez comes from an immigrant family. His father immigrated to the United States from Argentina as a boy, losing his culture in the process, as he was forced to adapt to his new surroundings in a country foreign to him.

Friedman explains how, “Our film draws from these lived experiences, exploring how the racial, economic, and gendered familial differences expose the biases that link whiteness, toxic masculinity, and wealth to moral and legal high grounds and normalcy in the United States. Tthrough Leo’s perspective, the audience can also glimpse the injustice (his mother) faces.”

The directors use Grassland to call attention to one of this country’s most pressing issues. To the justice system, so-called “low level” marijuana offenses are just that, unless the perpetrator comes from the Black or Latino communities. Even though it has become (to a point) legal, there continues to be thousands (mostly people of color) incarcerated on marijuana charges. This racially-based hypocrisy ruins communities and destroys lives.

Stated in the film’s press release, the directors hired crew members who had been directly impacted by the legal system, allowing them opportunities where the justice system had failed them. Some of the opportunities included “hiring crew members who were formerly incarcerated and hiring consulting producers with lived experience with the criminal legal system.”

It is this impassioned dedication to authenticity that makes their film so realistic and emotionally impactful.

Grassland stands as a passionate plea for justice for the minorities who get caught up by this country’s disjointed and racially biased drug laws. William Bermudez and Sam Friedman want to show how so many good people and families crumble under the weight of injustice, and they do so with great skill. Theirs is an important and moving motion picture.

 

Grassland

Written by William Bermudez, Sam Friedman, David Goldblum, & Adam Edery

Directed by William Bermudez & Sam Friedman

Starring Mia Maestro, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Quincy Isaiah, Jeff Kober, Sean Convery

NR, 88 Minutes, Conscious Contact Entertainment, Ageless Pictures, Exit 14