“A Thousand and One” Trailer Shows Us a Mother’s Love

Get your tissues ready for what promises to be one of the biggest tearjerkers of the year. The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival, A Thousand and One marks the feature debut of writer-director A.V. Rockwell.

In this harrowing story, Teyana Taylor gives her first leading performance as Inez. In and out of jail, she vows to do better for her young son Terry. But improving his life means risking her own, as she kidnaps him from foster care to start over. As Terry grows and excels, the attention he gets from teachers and college recruits means Inez's secret could be exposed, sending her back to prison. Filmed on location in New York City, this looks to be an authentic, powerful film about a mother's love.

A Thousand and One opens in select theaters on March 31.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.