{"id":6289,"date":"2024-10-19T23:11:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T03:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6289"},"modified":"2024-10-19T23:11:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T03:11:36","slug":"quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/19\/quest\/","title":{"rendered":"Quest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Quest<\/strong> (2017)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 FRF\/Documentary\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA rating (mature themes)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jonathan Olshefski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: T. Griffin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jonathan Olshefski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 1, 2017 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Christopher \u201cQuest\u201d Rainey, Christine\u2019a \u201cMa\u201d Rainey, Patricia \u201cP.J.\u201d Rainey, William Withers, Price.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0Rare is the film that makes you care deeply for its characters. Even rarer is the documentary that makes you care deeply for its human subjects. First-time filmmaker Jonathan Olshefski effortlessly manages this feat in Quest<\/strong>, a documentary that follows a North Philadelphia family over the course of ten years. It started out as a photography project until Olshefski realized the material was better suited for a feature-length film. He struck gold with the Rainey family. A close-knit bunch, they weather their share of tragedy and hardship over the course of a decade but never fall apart. They invite sympathy but never beg for pity. By the end, you feel as though you know the Raineys on an intimate level.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The concept is similar to Richard Linklater\u2019s Boyhood, but Olshefski takes a rather different approach to the story. He doesn\u2019t utilize a year-by-year narrative structure; rather, he marks the passage of time by way of TV news footage of Presidential elections and other significant events (e.g. Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook). It\u2019s a clever way to tell the Raineys\u2019 story as it also provides context. It\u2019s fascinating to watch how they grow as the world around them changes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The main players in Quest<\/strong> are Christopher Rainey, his wife Christine\u2019a, their daughter P.J. and William, a son from a previous relationship. Christopher, aka Quest, runs a recording studio and produces music for promising young artists. He holds \u201cFreestyle Fridays\u201d for locals; they can come in and do their thing at no cost. It\u2019s an alternative to running the streets. His wife, known to everybody as Ma because she\u2019s a natural caretaker, works the overnight shift at a shelter for abused women and their children. We first meet P.J. as an eight-year-old with dreams of being a D.J. (\u201cP.J. the D.J.\u201d her dad jokingly calls her) and watch as she grows into a teen searching for her own identity. Over the next 104 minutes, we stand by their side as they deal with one family member\u2019s cancer and the injury of another due to street violence (innocent victim; wrong place, wrong time). The latter provides the film\u2019s strongest drama especially when we hear this person apologize to Quest for getting shot while lying on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Earlier I drew a comparison between Quest<\/strong> and Boyhood. It\u2019s a fair comparison and I stand by it. Both films are ambitious and gripping. But Quest<\/strong> has an edge over Linklater\u2019s film. Whereas his movie featured actors playing roles, Olshefski\u2019s film does not. The Raineys are real people living through real situations. Nothing is scripted or rehearsed. What\u2019s even more amazing is that none of them seem the least bit fazed at being filmed. They have a natural presence in front of the camera. They go about their daily lives as though Olshefski isn\u2019t in the room with them (which he is). Even better, the Raineys are likable people. They\u2019re a strong family unit. The parents are decent, hard-working people; the daughter stays away from trouble. William takes care of his young son. They\u2019re not the stereotypical black family you usually see in movies set in the hood.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Street violence is an everyday part of life for the Raineys and their neighbors. Almost everybody has been affected by it to some degree. At one point, they organize a rally in which local religious leaders and even some cops take part. One angry resident asks, \u201cHow did Meek Mill and Jay-Z become our leaders?!\u201d It\u2019s a cry from a neglected underclass that too often gets lip service rather than actual action from politicians who only show up in their neighborhood when they need a sound bite.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s interesting to watch the social change in Quest<\/strong>. It begins in Obama\u2019s America and ends at the start of the ideologically opposite Trump administration. The look on the Raineys\u2019 faces as he asks African-Americans \u201cWhat have you got to lose?\u201d during his election campaign says it all. There\u2019s also a scene late in the game of Quest being subject to a random sidewalk search by police while his wife films the encounter on her iPhone. It\u2019s reflective of the time we now live in. It\u2019s not there to incite audiences, but rather to make them think.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For me, the best thing about Quest<\/strong> is that it\u2019s absolutely gripping. You come to know and care about the Raineys as though they are your good friends. You also come to understand what they go through to get by. Both parents work yet they still live in a house with a leaky roof. P.J. doesn\u2019t do without the essentials but like any teen, she wants sneakers and clothes they simply can\u2019t afford. Quest works a side job as a paper boy to make ends meet (yes, he can really throw like that!). Ma quietly worries about money and family matters. She\u2019s no stranger to setbacks as evidenced by the burn marks on her arms. Now that\u2019s quite a story and one that I\u2019ll let you hear for yourself. My only complaint about Quest<\/strong>, as I told Olshefski after a post-screening Q&A, is that I wanted more. He told me that many, many hours of footage went unused. Maybe he can make a sequel or do an extended version. I\u2019d watch it. Quest<\/strong> is one of the year\u2019s best films. Don\u2019t miss it!\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quest (2017)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 FRF\/Documentary\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA rating (mature themes)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jonathan Olshefski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: T. Griffin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jonathan Olshefski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 1, 2017 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Christopher \u201cQuest\u201d Rainey, Christine\u2019a \u201cMa\u201d Rainey, Patricia \u201cP.J.\u201d Rainey, William Withers, Price. Rating: **** \u00a0Rare is the film that makes you care deeply for its characters. Even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-documentary"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Quest-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6289"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6459,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6289\/revisions\/6459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}