Review By James Lindorf
Israel “Reefa” Hernandez Jr is spending what should be his last summer in Miami with friends, family, and his new girlfriend. The 18-year-old Colombian immigrant is a talented artist. When he has enough money saved at the end of summer, Israel plans to move to New York for art school. He is currently working two jobs, one at a former art teacher’s store and another for a photographer, where he paints backgrounds, props, and women. His former teacher even sets him up with a job helping a renowned Miami artist paint the walls of Wynwood, Miami’s graffiti Mecca. Desperately seeking recognition for his art, Israel decides he needs his own wall before he leaves town. Getting caught tagging an uncommissioned wall can have serious legal ramifications for him and his family as they nervously await their Green Cards. He plans to paint at night as a precaution, but that doesn’t stop his night from going from great to bad to tragic. Vertical Entertainment will release “Reefa” in a limited number of theaters and on VOD / Digital Platforms including iTunes, Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, April 16th, 2021.
Writer and Director Jessica Kavana Dornbusch is an artist, a Miami native, and the daughter of immigrants. There aren’t many more foundational elements she could have in common with Israel. It took four years of intense research and conversations with his friends and family before Dornbusch understood the young artist well enough to pen the script for “Reefa.” What could have been a sorrowful and angry piece about his senseless death is actually a joyful celebration of a passionate young artist. She shows Reefa as everything you would want in a kid. Friendly, intelligent, he had a talent that he was passionate about, a goal for his future, and a plan to achieve it. He was stubborn and nearly single-minded in his pursuit of art, which would have made him great. It was also that single-mindedness that led him to the abandoned building on August 6th, 2013, where an angry, abusive cop would end his life.
Relative newcomer Tyler Dean Flores is set to have a breakout year. He is starring in “Reefa” and has supporting roles in “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and “The Birthday Cake.” Flores gets to run the gamut of emotions, happy, sad, angry, scared, and he pulls them all off beautifully. It is a natural performance that makes you feel the horror and the pain of the film’s climax. Helping Flores is a couple of excellent actors in José Zúñiga (The Expanse), who plays his father, and Ricardo Chavira (Selena: The Series) as the confrontation cop. A Couple of the actors are raw, which is expected in a film with a limited budget. Even if they aren’t giving the best line deliveries, they are natural characters who help bring life to the story.
Even if you didn’t know the real-life story, Dornbusch builds the tension throughout the film. You would know something terrible will happen, but the scale of it could shock you to tears. “Reefa” is a well-acted and relatively well-made film with a few glitches. For example, there is an excellent use of lighting, but several weird edits like whole scenes are missing. The truth of the matter is that quality is secondary to the emotional journey that the film takes you on, and in that realm, “Reefa” is a masterpiece.
Genre: Drama, Crime
Original Language: English
Director: Jessica Kavana Dornbusch
Producer: Jessica Kavana Dornbusch, Ed Arenas, Elayne Keratsis, George Perez, Alejandro Suaya, Cindy Teperman
Writer: Jessica Kavana Dornbusch
Release Date: Apr 16, 2021
Runtime: 1h 36m
