Spark (1998)

AKA: –
Directed by: Garret Williams
Starring: Terrence Howard (Byron), Nicole Ari Parker (Nina), Brendan Sexton III (Mooney), Sandra Ellis Lafferty (Deb), Timothy McNeil (Stuart)
Country: USA; Effed Up American Cinema
Language: English
Runtime: 01:42:11
Genres: Racial tensions, Revenge

Plot – Spoilers:
The opening credits, with its change in music, makes you feel you’re perhaps going to be watching an unknown little gem. Spark falls away in parts but still remains an interesting film you may never have heard of.

Byron and his girlfriend Nina are driving from Chicago to LA when their car breaks down in the middle of the desert. All Nina wanted to do was to get to LA in time to start college, but the trip by road was something foisted on her by an insistent Byron who’s perhaps insecure about her moving away to get an education. The strain between the pair grows, as repairing the car drags along in the small town. Byron is already overprotective and paranoid about Nina, and the fact that they’re a black couple in an all-white small town puts him more on edge. Meanwhile, the lonely young son of the local mechanic, Mooney, who’s a year or two younger than Nina, finds different ways to try and impress and hang out with them. Tensions simmer for a while in the heat before being cranked up.