“We Grown Now” is a handsome, heavy-footed nostalgia piece that takes place in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green public housing project in October 1992, when the neighborhood became infamous as the setting of two horrors. The first was the killing of 7-year-old Dantrell Davis, who was shot as he walked to school. Then, just three days later, Cabrini-Green was featured as the backdrop of “Candyman,” a cult flick about a vengeful spirit who stalks the complex.
Malik and Eric’s story starts with a strong opening sequence where the kids drag an abandoned mattress down 12 flights of stairs to the playground. Straightaway, we’re taken in by the noise and energy of their block: the sounds of squeaky shoes and honking horns, the vicarious joy of watching children tumble gymnastically over the camera to land on a heap of tires and springs. But Baig, who was born in Chicago, is trying to shoehorn a semi-authentic drama into her reverie.