A Leg Up
2018 · 10m
Directed by Joe Jennings Jr.
Tones: contemplative, provocative
A punning, tightly knit short on the drug menace in Atlanta, weaving capitalism's toll and the subordination of Black America into one string.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A Leg Up feels like it's trying to thread too many needles at once—punning title, drug narrative, systemic critique—and the result is competent but safe, exactly the kind of socially conscious short that plays well at festivals without actually unsettling anyone.
Jennings Jr. demonstrates real formal control here, braiding economic critique with intimate character work in a way that recalls the best of contemporary Black cinema; the pun functions as both title and structural anchor, a small but deliberate choice that signals a filmmaker thinking about language and form together.
The pun isn't window dressing—it's the hinge on which the whole thematic argument swings, and that decision to make wordplay the skeleton of a film about systemic entrapment shows a filmmaker who knows exactly where to spend their creative currency on a 10-minute canvas.
Reviews
A Leg Up is a neatly knit together piece on the drug menace in Atlanta, the detrimental capitalistic system of the United States of America and the subordination of the African-American population in one string. Without giving away any spoilers, the father-son conversation culminates into an inspiring, life-enriching lesson not just for the son, but the audiences too.