"...even its most rousing passages are tempered by a sense of loss. Rather than simply enshrining its underdog heroes' efforts, it considers their cost."
"...a melodramatic lather of anguished breakups, cross-caste hookups and looming violence, shot in a ragged blur of super 16mm -- that tired, ersatz signifier of urban 'reality.' The only real notes of authenticity are struck by the actors, and even then, only on the distaff side."