ATL

...captures the lives of four black teenagers as they hang out in Waffle Houses and Krystal restaurants, spend Sunday nights at the skating rink, and, of course, deal with the overwhelming heat, which bears down in a sticky haze...

The roller-skating scenes are a blast.

It's a film about growing up and working, about falling in love, about planning for your future, and about the importance of friends.

...the neophyte feature director (...) immerses himself in his humid, heated Georgia setting with a sociologist's curiosity, using his wealth of unaffected environmental details as a prism for exploration rather than exploitation.

While the movie shows a range of ambitions and self-performances, by kids and adults, it doesn’t judge them, but considerers how they come to see options.