American Son - DVD Review

A sober, sensitive and quite affecting little drama, American Son focuses on a young African-American Marine (Nick Cannon) who gets a four-day leave before shipping out to Iraq. He dreads telling the news to his troubled family and postpones the moment of truth by spending most of his time courting a Latina (Melonie Diaz) whom he has just recently met. Cannon anchors the documentary-like film with his self-assured performance and gets strong support from Diaz and Matt O'Leary, who plays his drug-dealing best friend.

Shelf Talk: Made in 2007, Son used the then-hot Iraq War as a backdrop, but it's definitely not about the war and shouldn't be promoted as such. Son was received warmly at Sundance, but it didn't get a theatrical release and might be tough to market. However, it should generate good word of mouth.