On Tuesday, June 24, 2025, “Liquor Bank” (2025) was shown at the Roxbury International Film Festival before “Harriet Tubman: From the Railroad to a Spy” (2022). This fifteen-minute short is writer and director Marcellus Cox’s most recent project after his first feature, “Mickey Hardaway” (2023). With empty liquor bottles and cans surrounding him, Eddie (Antwone Barnes), a former marine, stays home behind drawn curtains on a sunny day. Baker (Sean Alexander James), who may be his sponsor, drops by to admonish him to return to sobriety. Cox’s specialty seems to be male protagonists in crisis with a strong, older male figure trying to pull them out of despair with potentially violent consequences. While this film is optimistic compared to his feature debut, it is still a challenging film to watch because of the subject matter.

Black men facing mental health struggles is a much-needed, emerging genre with such films as “Magazine Dreams” (2023) and “To Live and Die and Live” (2023) so Cox seems to have his finger on the pulse. Cox’s film, which claims to be based on a true story, is less stylized, more realistic and relatable, but once again, his work feels like it may find a happier home on the stage. Cox writes like a playwright with more talking than showing. The film’s closing quote seems to signal that the short issues a call to action for the audience to pay it forward. Cox may be the antonym to Tyler Perry but could possibly reach similar heights of success if he took a similar boots-on-the ground approach to his work with stage productions in reaching an audience and cultivating a fan base while continuing working in film, he may find the footing that he needs to continue being an independent filmmaker.

This observation should not be equated with any implication that Cox is not telling the story visually. Some scenes are viscerally painful as Eddie contemplates jumping into the void. The camera conveys how Eddie sees the world. At times, this point of view shot left spaces empty waiting to be filled, which felt like a delay as opposed to a creative choice. The muted golden glow of Eddie’s apartment does not convey warmth but appears to be more like living in one of his bottles. The color tone shifts to green and blue during transition times when Eddie is on the precipice of deciding between life or oblivion. A single exterior shot signifies which choice Eddie made. If you want to find out where Eddie landed, it should be available for home viewing in November 2025.