Sundance 2024: ‘Rob Peace’ is a Inspirational Story of Real Change
by Alex Billington
January 31, 2024
Talented British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor returned to the 2024 Sundance Film Festival with this second feature film. After premiering his first film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind at Sundance in 2019, Ejiofor brought his second film Rob Peace to the festival in the Utah mountains. It’s an inspirational, engaging dramatic thriller based on a true story about a young African-American man who made it into Yale and was on the rise in the field of science. His name is Rob Peace, yes his real name is Robert Peace, that’s not just a Hollywood title for this film about an intelligent man from New Jersey who went out to make real change in the world by taking care of his own community. It’s a well-made film about injustice and family ties and the cycle of violence in Black communities in America. There’s a few generic tropes but the emotional core is so strong I was moved anyway. Ejiofor has improved with his second film and this one should go on to have a great life beyond the festival. It deserves to connect with audiences and inspire them to make actual change.
Written and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rob Peace also co-stars Ejiofor as Rob’s troubled father Skeet. It’s inspired by the tragic true story of Rob, it’s meant to be a more inspirational and empowering film than a downer. It’s an extensive story going from Rob’s childhood through high school into university and beyond. It spans a decade of time at least. And the way this story moves over time is captivating in a way I was not expecting from Ejiofor directing. Above all else, it’s a deeply inspiring story about doing anything to make change. Rob, played as an adult by Jay Will, is an incredibly bright, warm, intellectual, open-minded young man who is given the opportunity to succeed by his Mom who believes in him. He ends up getting into Yale, where he quickly establishes himself as an esteemed scientist and top water polo player. However, darkness hangs over his life because his father, Skeet, is arrested and framed for a double murder in his neighborhood and sent to prison for life. Rob spends his time climbing the ladders of society while also clambering back down to figure out how to fight to free his father, being afraid to admit to anyone that his father is in prison.
The film is shepherded by an excellent lead performance by Jay Will, who has to carry an exorbitant amount of weight on his shoulders with this role. He unquestionably deserves plenty of accolades and acclaim for the complexities and nuances of his performance, showing us all of us his personality. He’s the kind of good-hearted person who should be a role model, despite his choices and the situations he often found himself in. Ejiofor is also good as his father, but it’s the other supporting performances that really stand out – Mary J. Blige as his mother, Camila Cabello as a woman he falls for at university, with Gbenga Akinnagbe and Juan Castano. The editing and flow of the narrative is also what makes this better than another standard story about families and violence in America. It’s an impressive feat to let this story span years and years of time without losing focus or energy or engagement. While there are a few cliches and some weak moments in the film, it’s fairly moving and rousing work of cinema that shouldn’t be shrugged off or forgotten quickly.
Alex’s Sundance 2024 Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
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