Newly released after being locked up in his teens, 30-year-old Ricky navigates the challenging realities of life post-incarceration, and the complexity of gaining independence for the first time as an adult.

In this warm and beautifully textured feature, director Rashad Frett journeys the interior emotional roads of Ricky, a betrayed teenager living inside of a prison-cut adult body as he attempts to integrate himself back into his Caribbean mother’s God-fearing home in Hartford, Connecticut. Ricky missed out on so many rites of passage of puberty, of learning a way with women, of smartphones, and of social media etiquette. How will he parlay his gift as a barber into gainful employment to meet his parole officer’s work requirements? Ricky is strong, handsome, and well-meaning but also misunderstood. Will he get a chance to live a life?

Actors Stephan James and Sheryl Lee Ralph give powerful and nuanced performances as Ricky and Joanne, his hard-boiled, big-hearted, parole officer. Rashad Frett’s directorial hand overflows with humanity and marks an auspicious feature debut.—Shari Frilot

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2).