Showing the Human
Raise your hand if you know someone impacted by the criminal justice system. It’s something that affects us all. With a story common to so many, Director Rashad Frett took a different approach in his feature film, Ricky.
Ricky is an almost two-hour film that follows the lead character Ricky, played by Stephan James, who was recently released from prison. At just 15 years old, Ricky was imprisoned for robbery and attempted murder. James’ character then spends 15 years behind bars to be released into a world he’s not familiar with.
Unlike certain narratives around justice-impacted men, specifically Black men, the film shows us that Ricky is more than what the world has put on him. Ricky is working hard for a new life, and it shows the complexities of the many emotions he faces, from insecurities to vulnerability, first-time sexual pleasure, anger, happiness, and everything in between.
Director Frett is showing the world the human being side of a Black man, despite his circumstances that often get villainized.
“We’re here. We exist because there’s been times….especially when people don’t know who you are, they just see this, and they just disregard you. I exist. We exist, and we just want a fair shot like everybody else,” Frett said to the Carvd N Stone Team.
To prepare for this role, James said he drew from real-life stories like the one of Kalief Browder to make Ricky feel real.
“That I made him feel like a human being. That I made him feel like something beyond a statistic,” said James.
The film not only shows the impact on Ricky but also on those around him, including his mother, played by Simbi Kali, and his little brother, played by Maliq Johnson.
“[Films] rarely talk about how it affects the family around them, and I think Ricky sheds a light on that,” Johnson told the Carvd N Stone Team.
Kali says her character has to be hard on her son in a way to protect him. He’s been gone for 15 years, and getting him back accumulated into society is a challenge, especially with so many obstacles placed against him.
“To be 15 years old surrounded by grown men, that’s such a traumatic experience and how do you heal from that? How do you recover, and it’s a movie about someone trying to recover,” Kail said to the Carvd N Stone team.
Early on in the film, Ricky loses his job because of his background check, not because of his behavior or work ethic. Ricky is challenged to get a new job or face being sent back to prison. The story is more nuanced and complex than that, but this is just one example of how Ricky tries to navigate his emotions and actions to figure out how to keep his life progressing in the right direction.
“I think Ricky is really special in that way because despite some of the harder moments, he also shows a level of just vulnerability and a level of like insecurity in a weird way, which is important to show too,” said James.
Winning at Sundance
Ricky started as Frett’s thesis for grad school, which turned into a short that screened at Sundance in 2023. His feature film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2025.
Now, Ricky is an award-winning film, taking home Sundance’s Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic.
Frett is currently looking for distribution.
Check out our video interviews from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival here.
This coverage is presented by Visit Milwaukee.
