72. Fresh

Urban melodramas are a dime a dozen and even when they’re compelling (Menace II Society) they don’t necessarily challenge the audience. Fresh director Boaz Yakin may be a one-trick pony (his follow-ups Uptown Girls, Remember the Titans and A Price Above Rubies aren’t necessarily classics) but his 1994 directorial debut was a film with two major strong points: an amazing lead performance from Sean Nelson (then only 13 years old) and a plot with a secret. Nelson’s titular character works both within and against stereotypes of his background and of the film’s genre: He’s caught up in the underworld of drug dealing and gang violence but at the same time he’s quiet, reserved and thoughtful.

A chess prodigy who plays in Washington Square Park (maybe he played against another character on our list, Searching for Bobby Fischer’s Josh Waitzkin), Fresh applies the lessons of strategy and manipulation he learns in chess to the harsh realities of his own life. That’s the hidden story on Fresh: Instead of just following Fresh around the mean streets of Brooklyn while he dodges bullets, Yakin spends much of the film's running time building an intricately constructed puzzle, with Nelson's character holding the map. Among the film's hapless supporting characters are fine performances from Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Epsoito and N'Bushe Wright, as well as a surprisingly effective cast of young kids. (The only real flaw in the film is a disruptive and out-of-character score by Stewart Copeland, formerly of the Police.) Punctuated by often shocking violence and capped off with a stunningly bald display of emotion, Fresh is a film that offers a lot. (Gil Jawetz)