Sundance Review: Qasim Basir’s ‘To Live And Die And Live’

deadline.com:

Perhaps more than anything else, To Live and Die and Live is an unexpected ode to the city of Detroit. Not many films have been shot there, and certainly none has shown off the New Detroit as glamorously and impressively as Qasim Basir has done in his fourth feature that just debuted in the Next section at the Sundance Film Festival; the alluring architecture and vibes make you want to schedule a trip at once.

Other than that, this is, to a significant degree, a hang-out film, featuring a film director central character at sixes and sevens about what to do next — you could generously call it Basir’s 8 ½.

Hanging out is certainly what Muhammad (Amin Joseph) does most of the time. Ostensibly he’s come back to town from L.A. due to the death of his stepfather, and he dutifully attends the funeral.

But the smooth-talking young man spends more screen time at late-night clubs and, for two nights in a row, makes time with sexy dancer Asia (Skye P.