Dead Presidents: a 1990s heist that doubles as a Vietnam film

The Hughes Brothers' Dead Presidents is a criminally underseen entry from the 1990s that plays like a heist movie on the surface but turns into much more: a lived-in coming-of-age story set in the Bronx, an examination of the financial and psychological traps of systemic racism, and a harrowing Vietnam picture.

The film is anchored by early, powerful turns from Larenz Tate, Chris Tucker, Freddy Rodriguez and Bokeem Woodbine, and is marketed around the eerie face paint worn by its protagonists. It opens as a low-key slice of life in 1960s New York, full of after-school jobs, crushes, petty crime and careful character touches.

Anthony (Larenz Tate) loses his virginity while working for local crook Slim (Keith David), graduates high school, and watches the specter of Vietnam loom. A breathtaking transition shot takes the story from a tearful goodbye to the jungles in an instant, and the tone hardens from there.

United States, Bronx, New York

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