FRESH (1994)

An urban fable with a different sort of hero. Fresh, who's all of 12, is sensitive, soft-spoken, loyal -- and as coldblooded a street operator as the murderous dealers for whom he runs ''bricks'' of heroin. There's shocking resonance to the notion of a grade-school boy who's become a criminal out of sheer pragmatism -- because it's the only way he has of mastering his surroundings. (Few who glimpse those surroundings would disagree.) And Sean Nelson, who plays Fresh, is a wondrous young actor. His big, staring eyes betray hints of fear, compassion, innocence, and rage. Yet they're never more than hints, and the teasing obliqueness of his expressions helps make this one of the subtlest child performances in years. If only the movie were as subtle. After a rich, anecdotal first half, writer-director Boaz Yakin has Fresh, inspired by the lessons of his derelict, Washington-Square-Park-chess-whiz father (Samuel L. Jackson), setting his own human chess game in motion, outwitting his dealer mentors with a plan so devious, so ruthless, so complex well, you may not believe a minute of it. Still, you won't forget Nelson's face, a portrait of the ghetto survivor as a young thug of conscience.

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