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Review

Robin is a disillusioned social worker living in the shadow of Sherwood Forest (a.k.a. Oakland, CA) who truly believes she can positively impact the world until frustrations at her job force her to rethink her life. A chance encounter entwines the luscious African-American bisexual with Brooklyn, a butch French mechanic who happens to be a thief. Street-smart Brooklyn (Clody Cates) influences the reluctant Robin (Khatee V. Turner) in more ways than one. Adventures lurk around the corner when a life of justifiable crime commences and an intense romance flourishes with poetic symmetry. As they "rob from the rich and give to the poor," these outlaws fight racism, oppression and poverty from the corrupt police (à la Sheriff of Nottingham and King John). Love ignites and lines cross during an emanating whirlwind of passion and robbery that leads our heroines to danger. Set to a backdrop of hip-hop and the rhythms of the inner city, Robin's Hood is a blue-collar fairy tale. Director Sara Millman's debut feature, produced with funds raised in part through sidewalk sales and street donations in San Francisco's Castro district, beautifully tackles everyday issues in an intriguing manner all under the watchful eyes of two pure romantics.

 -- Kelly Burkhardt