Cabot-Conyers is equally great, playing Leo with a natural curiosity and genuine soul, without a hint of “acting”. This young man should have a long career.

While the picture gives way to a bit of melodrama in its final act, the directors make it work due to their commitment to creating such believable characters. The grounded screenplay has been so well-crafted and the film so perfectly cast, the audience finds a real connection to this collection of broken souls just trying to find their place. What transpires in the finale is intensely moving and shows the outcomes caused by the complexities of systemic failure and how everyone becomes a victim.

Grassland was inspired by William Bermudez and Sam Friedman’s own experiences. Friedman explains how, in high school, his mother started growing weed in her bedroom. Because of this, his “suburban normalcy” was shattered, as his friends were no longer allowed to come to his house and the young man began to resent what his mom was doing. Bermudez comes from an immigrant family. His father immigrated to the United States from Argentina as a boy, losing his culture in the process, as he was forced to adapt to his new surroundings in a country foreign to him.

Friedman explains how, “Our film draws from these lived experiences, exploring how the racial, economic, and gendered familial differences expose the biases that link whiteness, toxic masculinity, and wealth to moral and legal high grounds and normalcy in the United States. Tthrough Leo’s perspective, the audience can also glimpse the injustice (his mother) faces.”

The directors use Grassland to call attention to one of this country’s most pressing issues. To the justice system, so-called “low level” marijuana offenses are just that, unless the perpetrator comes from the Black or Latino communities. Even though it has become (to a point) legal, there continues to be thousands (mostly people of color) incarcerated on marijuana charges. This racially-based hypocrisy ruins communities and destroys lives.

Stated in the film’s press release, the directors hired crew members who had been directly impacted by the legal system, allowing them opportunities where the justice system had failed them. Some of the opportunities included “hiring crew members who were formerly incarcerated and hiring consulting producers with lived experience with the criminal legal system.”

It is this impassioned dedication to authenticity that makes their film so realistic and emotionally impactful.

Grassland stands as a passionate plea for justice for the minorities who get caught up by this country’s disjointed and racially biased drug laws. William Bermudez and Sam Friedman want to show how so many good people and families crumble under the weight of injustice, and they do so with great skill. Theirs is an important and moving motion picture.

Grassland

Written by William Bermudez, Sam Friedman, David Goldblum, & Adam Edery

Directed by William Bermudez & Sam Friedman

Starring Mia Maestro, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Quincy Isaiah, Jeff Kober, Sean Convery

NR, 88 Minutes, Conscious Contact Entertainment, Ageless Pictures, Exit 14