In the gritty new crime thriller “Splash City,” one of the main characters cruises through a San Francisco neighborhood, blunts in hand, describing the current state of the Bay Area.
“It’s crazy in the bay, I’m telling you. Frisco, Oakland, the whole bay is bippin’,” one says, using a slang term that refers to car break-ins.
The dark and deadly serious film follows a pair of brothers, Juju (Reed Shannon) and Slim (Zach Sowers), as they navigate the criminal underworld of San Francisco. Slim is a promising basketball player with his choice of scholarships, while his brother Juju becomes wrapped up in a crew of thieves who use spark plugs and brute force to smash their way into car windows. The film feels like something of a modern day interpretation of the 2004 drama “Sucker Free City.” The movie was co-directed by Alex Ferrufino alongside San Francisco rapper and Cookies cannabis entrepreneur Gilbert Anthony “Berner” Milam Jr. (Berner also has a co-writing credit alongside David Mansanalez).
“It was almost like film school for me,” said Berner, who was on set for the full production and has several more film projects currently in the works…