There is a moment of indescribable joy when you sit in front of a film and get the feeling that you are watching the birth of a potentially groundbreaking voice. This has always been the case, but it is happening slightly more often in recent years, undoubtedly the result of platforms being given to exciting young artists, especially those emerging from formerly marginalized groups that formerly stood on the outskirts of the industry. In her directorial debut, A.V. Rockwell easily establishes herself as one such filmmaker, with A Thousand and One not only being one of the most ambitious and compelling debuts in recent memory, but one of the year’s very best films, a captivating and quietly meditative examination of a variety of themes, each one handpicked by the director as she goes in pursuit of some deeper meaning embedded beneath the surface of everyday existence. Telling the story of a young mother who decides to take a risk by abducting her own son (who had been placed in the foster care system due to his mother’s erratic behaviour which forced her to spend some time in prison), starting a new life with him as they navigate the mean streets of urban New York between the 1990s and early 2000s, each day causing their already contentious relationship to ebb and flow. A powerful social realist drama that has many fascinating flourishes that prove the most enthralling narratives often come in unexpected forms, A Thousand and One is an astonishing achievement, a simple but evocative drama with as much heart as it has intelligence, both of them existing in an abundance – and additionally, we find ourselves growing immediately entranced by the incredible work being done by Rockwell, whose directorial voice is so strong, we have to wonder why it took her so long to make the leap to feature filmmaking after a pair of well-received short films, which all work together to prove her incredible skillfulness as a filmmaker.

Motherhood is one of the many themes that seem to be evergreen within the world of literature – much like love and death, we can often trace any story back to one’s childhood and their relationship with the people who raised them, whether chosen or biological, and maternal figures have usually borne most of the brunt, since there is something truly ethereal and complex about examining the relationship between a mother and her child, even if only metaphorically. A Thousand and One is unmistakably a film about this particular subject, or at least the vast majority of its narrative centres on the connection formed between a woman trying desperately to put her life together, and the son that she unlawfully reclaimed as her own, refusing to go through the legal ordeals she would have to endure to reacquire guardianship. However, this is only where the film starts – over the course of two hours, Rockwell takes us on a quiet and meditative journey into the lives of these characters, setting it over roughly a decade, in which time we experience the world through their perspective, sometimes even simultaneously. The film isn’t merely about a mother trying to reconnect with her son, but also about the limitations that have to be imposed on such a relationship, with Rockwell telling a story that sits on the cutting edge when it comes to how it portrays their experiences together, sometimes being quite difficult to comprehend, not in the sense that it is overly convoluted, but rather because there is something simmering beneath the surface, which emerges in the final shocking revelation. A Thousand and One is a perfectly-calibrated depiction of what it means to be human, particularly in how it examines the flaws that often drive us to act out and demand more than what we were given. It is all filtered through a touching but still deeply disquieting investigation into the experiences between a mother, who genuinely believes that she has gotten her son back, and a growing young man who realizes that there is far more to his past than he initially imagined, the constant oscillation between their viewpoints being the driving force behind the film, and the primary reason it is such a resounding success, and far more captivating than we may have expected.

One of the great benefits of being an independent filmmaker is the ability to take risks, and granted they are all within reason, they usually tend to be quite effective, and help define the film as a whole, much more than we may initially expect. In the case of A Thousand and One, there is a lot of work being done in terms of the character development, since the entire film revolves around our ability to not only believe in these characters, but be genuinely invested in their journey. The risk comes in the person Rockwell chose to play the central role – prior to this film, Teyana Taylor was not a professional actor. Known more as a singer and dancer (and where nearly every film in which she appeared previously was themed around musical performances), the choice to cast her in a role that was so deviant from what she had done for the previous decade as a performer was quite a daring concept, but one that proves that the best performances come in unexpected forms, as made extremely clear by this film. Taylor is a revelation – her performance is simple but powerful, and she never comes across as inauthentic, despite her relative inexperience in this kind of film. Incredibly gifted at delivering the dramatic moments that define the character, Taylor is absolutely superb, especially when we realize the actual scope of what she had to work with, portraying this character over the course of a decade, her performance changing in small but substantial ways as it progresses and she grows older, each moment adding details into what eventually becomes an expansive portrait of this character as she moves from foolish naivete to a more mature stage of her adulthood. The three actors who play her son over the course of this decade (Aaron Kingsley Adetola, Aven Courtney and Josiah Cross) all warrant a special mention, since while they may not be individually present enough to make a large impact, their ability to weave together a cohesive depiction of this young man as he grows up is absolutely incredible – there are small but notable threads that bind them together, which can only be the result of a magnificent collaboration between the director and her actors, who work together to create this character, situating him in the wider world and offering us unquestionably powerful insights into his psychological state, which eventually becomes the primary focus of the film.

While it may be Taylor and the three actors who play her son that serves as our visual representation of this story, Rockwell’s touch is present in absolutely every frame – A Thousand and One may be a character-based drama, but this doesn’t disqualify it from being superbly well-directed, with each moment being delicately placed into the film by someone who had clear intentions of what she wanted to convey at any given moment. Rockwell’s direction is sharp and precise, and she seems to be quite an economical filmmaker – her style isn’t sparse or unnecessarily simple to the point where it feels lacking in terms of visual prowess, but it does have a tenderness to it that prevents it from ever going too far, but also not being so demure and subtle that it doesn’t make an impact. Most of this film finds the director seeking the perfect balance between her ideas and their execution, developing the film to be impactful but never dour, complex but also quite beautiful and poetic in how it explores certain ideas. It would have been extremely easy to strive for the starkest authenticity – independent cinema has facilitated gritty, direct forms of storytelling, and where the concept of cinéma vérité has rarely been more commonplace, especially with the continued (and deserved) celebration of directors like John Cassavetes and Mike Leigh as the cornerstones of authentic, direct cinema in which cliches are avoided and the focus is on capturing life as it is, rather than following patterns determined by those in the mainstream. Rockwell’s aims were to not necessarily deviate from this style of filmmaking, but instead go in pursuit of something far more compelling, without needing to resort to forced emotions. The director is invested in providing a film that is beautiful and haunting, but never manipulative, which is primarily why A Thousand and One feels like such a major achievement, in terms of both the story it is telling, and the manner in which it is told.

Few films manage to create the feeling of being absolutely essential more than A Thousand and One, which is such a well-constructed, meaningful demonstration of what it means to exist in a world that is designed to be against your entire existence. There is a depth to this film that should not be overlooked – it may seem to be a relatively simple story about the connection between a mother and her son, but it is so much deeper, and has a profundity embedded at its core that is absolutely remarkable, and helps us look at this film in different ways, focusing on those meaningful, evocative details that work together to create such a poignant and profoundly moving depiction of the human condition. In order to tell this story, Rockwell takes many powerful ideas and weaves them together in a way that is both strikingly beautiful and extremely simple – she never needs to work too laboriously to portray the earnest emotions, but she still creates a poignant and often artistically profound film that is always on the verge of reaching some deeply philosophical resolution, asking the most challenging questions but obviously never purporting to have the answers, which is all part of the extraordinarily detailed view of the world that Rockwell infuses into every frame of this film, which feels like such a major achievement for a number of reasons. There’s so much complexity that drives this film, and it often seems like it is steadily approaching a new understanding of the nature of being human – and all of it is contained within such a simple but provocative realist drama. Anchored by some incredible performances, and directed with panache and nuance, A Thousand and One is one of the most audacious dramas of the year, and a film that firmly establishes Rockwell as an essential talent.