Third Time's a Charm

Street Fight (Marshall Curry). "He smells like the future," an awestruck young girl gasps after shaking hands with Cory Becker, the first-term city councilman (and Yale Law School grad) who challenges long-standing mayor Sharpe James in Newark, New Jersey's 2002 election. The son of civil-rights activists and resident of the housing projects he represents, Becker quickly finds his idealism tested by an onslaught of strong-armed tactics involving both the incumbent and the local police force: strip-club scandals, a campaign-headquarters burglary, poster vandalization and additional election-day shenanigans (and you thought Florida's hanging chads were controversial). It's no secret that money and power win elections, but Street Fight also reveals a disjointed community where education and lighter skin alienate black voters, and confidence is won not on TV or the radio, but on the street. Unapologetically subjective but unwilling to shy away from Becker's own crises of conscience, director and producer Marshall Curry's political horrorshow is up for Best Documentary Feature at this year's Academy Awards. Screens at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, February 26, at the Missouri Theater. Director Curry attends. (JS)