Stand Clear of the Closing Doors

Thirteen-year-old Ricky, who is doubly disadvantaged as a slightly autistic child of Mexican immigrants,  runs away from home by getting on the subway. Time and reality become relative as he grows tired and hungry, while his visions and the documentary-like images of underground New York increasingly intermingle. A parallel narrative takes place above, in poverty-stricken Rockaway Beach, where Ricky’s mom searches for him desperately.

This intimate story is told without  a directness that might kill its poetry. It is formally perfect,  and gains additional depth through a climax that plays out as Hurricane Sandy approaches.