Before We Were Wicked

Fans of Dickey’s Bad Men and Wicked Women (2018) will enjoy this equally erotic prequel. It’s L.A. in the 1990s and two loan shark enforcers, UCLA student Ken Swift and wingman Jake Ellis, are making good money hurting deadbeats. The duo is on assignment at the posh end of the Sunset Strip when Ken lays eyes on, lays claim to, and soon lays the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. Before heading to Harvard in the fall, 18-year-old Jimi Lee, aka Adanech Abeylegesse Zenebework, the sheltered daughter of wealthy Ethiopian activists, wants to sample California’s wild side. Ken can oblige. Between illuminating exchanges about black life and history in the U.S., Jimi and Ken fall in lust, then in love; they move in together and have a child. Then things change forever when the expensive needs of their daughter, Margaux, collide with the danger of Ken’s profession, the family’s only source of income. The added dimension of black history lifts this otherwise adequate erotic thriller to a whole new level. (Apr.)