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Based on a true story, Crown Heights is a searing film with quality performances and sometimes shaky accents. It reminded me somewhat of Castaway, in the sense of you are away, but not away—life goes on, the world goes on without you. This story of a lower-class black man caught up in the system has me asking, how often do detectives push for convictions instead of justice? Arrested in 1980, conviction was the outcome for Colin Warner (Keith Stanfield); but the people who never gave up on him, whose world could not go on without him, specifically his girlfriend Antoinette (Natalie Paul) and devoted best friend Carl King (Nnamdi Asomugha, aka Mr. Kerry Washington), along with genuine DIY legal work are what got him through and eventually released after more than two decades. What, then, are the costs around the social devastation of racism mixed with shady police work? Check out a video about the film by Hollywood Reporter and get SIFF movie times after the jump...

SIFF is happening now through June 11. Crown Heights screens tonight and tomorrow afternoon at Pacific Place (showtimes here). Check out more recommended SIFF films here; and all SIFF films here.