Sprinter is a 2019 drama about a boy separated from his mother who has moved to the U.S. for a better life, set to be a next track-and-field sensation.
In Jamaica, Akeem Sharp (Dale Elliot) still deals with his mother’s choice to move to the United States to earn extra money to support her family. That was ten years ago, and she is now stuck there illegally, contact between them limited. Raised by his father Garfield (Dennis Titus), Akeem lives in the shadow of his older brother Germaine (Kadeem Wilson), who was once a celebrated runner but forced by injury to quit, now a local thug, running a phone scam and chasing women. Akeem has the same talents for sprinting, more so and hopes for a scholarship to Los Angeles, his presence on the track suddenly earning him media praise and grand possibilities, but there are hurdles to overcome before this family can be healed.
From Director and co-writer Storm Saulter, Sprinter is exactly as you expect, a local, inspiring tale of a young man destined for greatness, but made so with terrific heart and energy, led by a Elliot, who carries the film with sturdy legs, delivering a lively, emotional performance. Akeem grows up with a mother seen mostly on brief video calls, his father taken to alcohol in dealing with the separation. On his bedroom walls are newspaper cutouts of his brother’s running accomplishments, they becoming challenges of his own in trying to repeat the fortunes of Germaine. This leaves his family life is a kind of steady turmoil, Garfield trying to take care of Germaine’s little boy while conflicts brew and bitterness settles in.
At school though, the track coach (David Alan Grier) knows he’s got lightning in a bottle in Akeem and sets about trying to mold the inexperienced and often uncontrollable young man into a world class athlete. It’s not easy when Akeem becomes distracted by a fellow runner Kerry Hall (Shantol Jackson), a talented runner herself, who is disciplined and hardworking.
It’s all very familiar, of course, the sports movie formula well fortified and mixed well, nothing here you don’t see coming. However, Saulter is deeply committed to these characters and their story, giving each of them plenty of substance, with Akeem surrounded by hardships that feel genuine. There’s opportunity for melodramatic contrivance in all of this, and sure, as it strictly follows the well-travelled road, falls into some of the more obvious trappings of the genre, but this is nonetheless well made and produced, keeping all of it always interesting in getting us across the finish line. Recommended.