Filmed in Milwaukee with a cast and crew predominantly from Brew City, "Getting' Grown" may have the look of a Milwaukee film, but its deceptively simple story is straight out of European cinema.
The stark film, which was released in 2004 and won a number of awards including honors at the Chicago and Milwaukee International Children's Festivals and the American Black Film Festival, is now out on DVD as part of Film Life / Warner Home Video's American Black Film Festival Series. The 74-minute feature was the main event at that year's Milwaukee International Film Festival.
Co-producer Dr. Fran Kaplan says the film has had a long life since its theatrical release and has created opportunities to open dialogues in a variety of forums.
"In addition to being present at many of the fest screenings, we producers have taken the movie to schools, universities, parenting education classes and older adult groups -- to audiences diverse in age, race, class," says Kaplan.
"The response -- as noted by evaluation forms, student essays, and Q & A sessions -- has been great across the board. Older adults had a lot to say about the three-generation household, kids talk about how real Eric's day and journey seem to them, and parents relate to the universal concerns of the parents in the movie -- like when to let your child take on more responsibility and its consequences."
Eric (Isaiah Matthew, a Roosevelt School of the Arts student at the time of filming) is an 11-year-old boy on Milwaukee's North Side, where he lives with his parents -- who are expecting a baby -- and his grandmother. Tomorrow, Eric turns 12.
He plays basketball and loves the Sixers. When his mom sends him on an errand to a nearby pharmacy, Eric begins what ought to be a simple journey but that instead offers a slew of obstacles and potential pitfalls.
Among those pitfalls: an incense salesman eager to lighten Eric's financial load, a pick-up basketball game that threatens his strict schedule, some friends armed with water pistols that look like real guns, shady characters offering him a ride and, sadly, his own untrustworthy uncle.
Despite the map his mom has drawn for him, showing what she hopes will be a safe -- if roundabout - route, the mean streets turn an easy task into a complicated series of decisions that Eric must make. Perhaps most frustratingly, Eric seems drawn into problems that aren't his own.
First a neighbor complicates his mission by tagging on her own assignment for him, then her son ditches out on a game, pressuring Eric to fill in. His uncle and his friends don't help much, either.
But, will Eric manage to weave his way through the maze and make it to his 12th birthday?
Director Aaron Greer -- a Milwaukee native now living in Chicago where he teaches film at Loyola University -- and a talented, mostly amateur, cast elevate what could have been an "ABC Afterschool Special" into a well-acted, well-shot, engaging drama that depicts the daily life of many Milwaukee kids.
Here in Brew City, viewers will also be fascinated by the many familiar sights, from Downtown to the North Side, Bay View to the Tosa Pick ‘n Save (in its old incarnation).
The DVD includes special features like behind the scenes and rehearsal footage, offering a little insight into how "Getting' Grown" came to be.
Kaplan has high -- but realistic -- expectations for the DVD.
"Film Life has done well with the movies it's distributed in partnership with Warner, so 'Gettin' Grown' is expected to see good sales, also. One indication of its potential popularity is that retailers nationally have ordered 26,000 copies -- more than some other Film Life offerings with A-list star power."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
