EDITOR’S NOTE: The following piece is offered by the author as a review and personal opinion.

“A Thousand and One” provides a riveting performance by artist, choreographer, and director, Teyana Taylor, as we watch her come back to her New York City roots in a rapidly-changing Harlem in this crime/drama.

This is perhaps one of the first times we’ve seen Taylor play a role of this magnitude. She has starred in other films like “Coming 2 America,” “Stomp The Yard: Homecoming” and “Madea’s Big Happy Family.”

The film follows Inez, a mother fresh out of prison, who kidnaps her son, Terry, from a failing foster care system.

Inez and Terry lean on each other and try to figure out life together.

It’s a coming-of-age story that mimics the style of Moonlight. We watch Terry grow from a boy into a young man. Aaron Kingsley Adetola plays 6-year-old Terry, Aven Courtney plays 13-year-old Terry and Josiah Cross plays 17-year-old Terry.

William Catlett plays Lucky, an ex-con who takes on the role of a father for Terry. The film encompasses what Black motherhood and fatherhood look like for two parents working through hardships.

While trying to build a family of their own, their life as they know it starts crashing down, things get a little more tricky and the plot thickens.

As Terry nears the end of his high school career, a secret is revealed.

“A Thousand and One” is out in theatres now.