“Winner of two awards at the Locarno Film Festival, Clarence and Angel is the story of two boys living in Harlem who find themselves at odds with school. Twelve-year-old Clarence has recently relocated with his Southern migrant family to New York City. Unable to read, he enters school for the first time. Teased by his peers and humiliated by an impatient teacher, Clarence is finally sent into the hallway as punishment. There he meets Angel, a Bruce Lee fanatic, whose disruptive behavior often leads to expulsion from the classroom. As their friendship develops, Angel assumes the responsibility of teaching Clarence how to read. More importantly, the much-frequented corridor serves as the setting for these two outcasts' elaborate fantasies; in their imaginary world students become teachers, and teachers are students. By the time Clarence learns to read, his teacher has given up; her refusal to call on him precipitates a confrontation in which the boy demands that she acknowledge his newly-acquired ability.
“This first feature by Robert Gardner is an effectively gentle and sincere portrayal of inner city adolescence with its funny, tense, and bewildering moments. According to critics at the Toronto Film Festival, ‘Clarence and Angel is a fresh, vital expression of the triumph of hope over despair, of friendship and meaningfulness over isolation and absurdity.'” --L.A. Thielen