Indie Film Review: Mickey Hardaway (2023)

Director: Marcellous Cox

Genre: DRAMA, INDEPENDANT

Language: ENGLISH

Written by: Marcellous Cox

Length: 1hr 45min

Rating: NR (TV-14)

Synopsis

 A young sketch artist agrees to an in-house therapy session with a well-renowned psychiatrist as his life begins sprawling out of control after years of physical and verbal abuse have finally taken a toll on him.

Powerfully beautiful Marcellus Cox shines in his directorial debut with Mickey Hardaway.

Review

We are introduced to Mickey Hardaway, a struggling young artist who, unbeknownst to him, is haunted by his past childhood trauma.  After losing his job, Mickey finds himself unable to handle life. His girlfriend Grace (Ashley Parchment) recommends an esteemed psychiatrist, Dr. Cameron Harden (Stephen Cofield Jr.) Mickey agrees, and it is in these sessions we learn of Mickey’s horrific childhood abuse from his father, Randall Hardaway (David Chattam ), and his fearful mother (Gayla Johnson).

Mickey has loved drawing since childhood, and he is good at it. When one of Mickey’s elementary school teachers, Mr. Sweeney(Denis L.A. White), encourages Mickey to attend a summer art class, Mickey sadly says his dad has said no. Mr. Sweeney, thinking this art class could really benefit Mickey, tries to appease Mickey’s dad and gets beat down by Mickey’s dad LITERALLY. Mickey needs to be realistic; he is told. That is just a glimpse of Mickey’s abuse; as Mickey continues his sessions with Dr. Harden, we see more and more. Sadly, his sessions with Dr. Harden always seem to be cut shorter and shorter, leaving Mickey with no answers. Mickey starts to feel resentful, and then finally, Mickey breaks.

Mickey Hardaway is a film every mental health practitioner should see, heck the whole world should see as Mickey Hardaway shows exactly how our mental health system fails us. Also, we as a society fail each other. So many people said they’d be there if Mickey needed anything, but no one was there. Only Mr. Sweeny seemed to have kept his word, but even Mr. Sweeney, in a way, failed somehow.

Shot entirely in black and white, the only color we get is when Mickey meets Grace as we see Grace is the only color and brightness in his painful black-and-white life.

Cox does a phenomenal job in his directorial debut.  I applaud him so much and can relate deeply to this film. Much of it brought tears to my eyes. I enjoyed how Cox envisions Mickey’s slip into instability in an almost uneventful way till it’s too late, which is kind of true to life. When a person goes off the deep end, no one ever sees it coming. It is usually after the fact the signs are seen.

Cox presents a beautiful piece that is flawless, in my opinion. Every shot has a meaning, and the cast is stellar. Every cast member commands each scene they are in. David Chattam (Randall Hardaway )gives a vicious performance as Mickey’s dad and delivers the cruelest line ever in a film I have ever heard. 

 Rashad Hunter (Mickey Hardaway), though, is the breakout star. He portrays Mickey with a realistic vulnerability you can not help but feel and relate to.

Mickey Hardaway is currently out on the film festival circuit and has won tons of awards, including:

*2023 Best feature: Lightreel Film Festival

*Best Feature: Roxbury International Film Fest

and

*Best Director: Athens International Monthly Arts Film Festival (For the full live, visit their IMDB page)

A great indie art house piece. My rating is 10/10

Mikey Hardaway is available to watch on Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, and AppleTV.

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