Review: With an Excellent Cast, 'Icon' Tells a Tough Story about Coming of Age

Writer-director Tony Ahedo reportedly based his feature "Icon" on "a rue story" and drew "elements from his childhood," which might or might not mean that the film bears some biographical imprint. What matters, though, is that the movie takes on some tough issues about heritage, responsibility, and growing up, and hews to a sense of realism while exploring the story's dramatic potential.

Sam (Parker Padgett) is a high schooler in Florida who's in the middle of his senior year. He falls hard for Ana (Devon Hales) and, when she becomes pregnant, starts looking for ways to support whatever choice she's going to make. Thinking of his own single mother – and the conspicuous absence of a father in his own life – Sam is determined not to shy away from his obligations.

The problem is, Sam is still in school, and still a teenager; he's hardly ready for the hard choices of adulthood, and his way of dealing with the dilemma is to keep the news to himself, rather than seek his mother's guidance. A need for money and a fruitless search for part-time employment leads him to a drug dealer. Thinking he'll peddle weed for a short time and then give the proceeds to Ana, Sam throws himself into the gig – but things go awry, and his inability to reach out means that his life starts to spin out of control.

With his problems swiftly piling up, Sam, feeling overwhelmed, searches for connection with his absent father, only for his efforts to uncover more painful truths than he's ready to cope with.

Padgett embodies the full range of Sam's confusion, anger, and sorrow; flashbacks depict the fragmentary memories he thinks back on of a day with his father – the last day they spent together, as it turned out. Hales turns in a solid performance, too, that of a young woman who is capable and self-confident, but who needs emotional support and communication she's not getting.

This isn't a candy-coated teen romp; nor is it a grim cautionary tale. Rather, "Icon" holds its focus as a story built around need, expectation, and bruising lessons – but also the ability for commitment (to a person, or to a set of personal values) to lend us the strength we need when we're not sure that we're strong enough.

"Icon" streams online as part of the Cinequest Film Festival through May 30.