First Trailer for 'The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete' With Jennifer Hudson and Anthony Mackie

It's unfortunate that George Tillman's The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete has been met with so many comparisons to Lee Daniels' Precious, but that's the short-hand most use when comparing urban dramas of a certain texture. Both films do have a couple of similar characters, and they depict with stunning bluntness the terrible conditions of ghetto life, in particular on the young, but that's really where the similarities end as 'Mister and Pete' is an adventurous and honest film worthy of standing on its own.

Although it boasts a stellar cast that includes Jennifer Hudson, Anthony Mackie, Jordin Sparks, Jeffrey wright, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, the film lives and dies on the breakthrough performance by Skylan Brooks as Mister, a rebellious and angry youth living in the projects. When his heroine addict mother (Hudson) bails, he's forced to spend an entire summer learning to fend for himself, dodging the drug dealers, the cops, and stealing when he has to. Eventually he takes in an Asian boy named Pete (Ethan Dizon) who is in a similar situation, and they lean on one another as the weeks and months begin to take a terrible toll on them. In my review out of Sundance, I noted Brooks' performance as being on the level as Beast of the Southern Wild's Quvenzhane Wallis, and I continue to agree with myself on that. You get glimpses of it in the newly released trailer, and also just how bleak the story gets, which I said "beats you over the head with doom and gloom, to the point where you become insensate to it all".

So yeah, it's a tough one to endure at times, but worth it for some all-around great performances and Tillman's best direction in years. The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete opens October 11th.