HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ooooohhhhh…..on the TLC tip!

WHO’S THE MASTER?

According to Entertainment Weekly, Samuel L. Jackson has been cast as Sho Nuff in the remake of Berry Gordy’s 1985 film, The Last Dragon. Umm…yeah.  I am so going to see this!  What I don’t understand is why some bloggers are so outraged by the decision to remake the movie.  Yeah yeah, it’s a cult classic BUT you can’t argue with the fact that nobody rocks a wig like Sam.  This is a role where it really is all about the hair and if Sam can’t do it no one can.  Wait a minute…Busta did do a pretty decent job in his “Dangerous” video.  But back to Sam.  My favorite two looks of his are as Odell Robbie in Jackie Brown (1997) and Elmo McElroy in Formula 51 (2001).  What are your favorites and who else do you think should be cast in the movie?

WHY I LOVE DIANE KEATON

 

So the film buff in me knows that the esteemed Ms. Keaton played a notable role in the Godfather franchise and that she is Annie Hall (duh!).  However, keep in mind that I am in my 20’s and I was not introduced to Diane Keaton until a little gem-of-a movie called Baby Boom.  I love this woman because nobody plays wacky like her and the slightly off-beat side of me relates to her best in her roles as the lovable neurotic.  It is in these roles that Diane shines as the high-achieving, working woman who can’t escape the inevitable monkey wrenches thrown into her love life.  Rather than taking the cliched scripted route of drowning her sorrows in booze or becoming a floozy, Diane’s characters have a penchant for wailing at the top of their lungs until there is a resolve to their anguish.  Remember that famous “I’m sorry” monologue from The First Wives Club?  And who could forget Erica Barry’s many breakdowns in Something’s Gotta Give?

Though often cast as a comedic passive-aggressive, Keaton is such a skilled actress that her characters always have a refined quality about them thus making it difficult to totally take their woes seriously.  Indeed, you sympathize with her characters’ frustrations but at the same time root for them knowing that they are bettered by their sufferings and will come out stronger than before.  Simply superb!

The Secret Life of Bees

 

To the woman sitting next to me at the 7:15 show in Emeryville, California’s ”Emerybay” theatre on opening night…

 

Dear Lady Whose Name I Did Not Catch,

First, thank you for giving me an angle from which to approach this review.   Sometimes I have so many ideas running through my head when watching a movie that it becomes maddening to decide what to say and how to say it while at the same time enjoying my viewing experience (or not) and taking notes in the dark .  I bet you won’t forget your experience that night, will you?  How many times do nosy film critics-journal and pen in hand- approach you with random, social-worky questions as you’re filing out of the aisles and chatting it up with your compadres?  Me thinks not so much.

The way you behaved yourself that night I couldn’t help but get all up in your kool aid.  At times I became more anticipatory of and preoccupied with your reactions than the exceptional performances of Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, and Jennifer Hudson combined.  The way you thrashed around in your seat, continuously bumped my elbow, cackled with your girlfriend, and outright admonished the behaviors of the townspeople I might as well have given you my ten dollars and twenty-five cents for a night’s worth of entertainment. 

What were you thinking?   Though I may have appeared quite stoic sitting next to you, I was moved as well.  To be sure, director Gina Prince-Bythewood did an amazing job with the screenplay adaptation of the novel, weaving Lily’s (Dakota Fanning) tale of tragedy into a touching portrait of finding acceptance and love with an unconventional family.  A staunch advocate of community organizers everywhere (Go, Barack!) I too, marveled at Bythewood’s ability to translate the novel’s metaphors of  “queen bees as nurturers” and “worker bees as support systems”  into captivating images on the big screen.  The social worker in me stood up and applauded several times, especially as Lily began to confront the guilt from her past and make room in her heart to love- even if it meant encountering danger.

Which brings me back to you, my muse.  Given your a-little-too-loud exclamations of “oh my God” and “this is crazy”  during the intimate scenes between Lily and Zach, you appeared to struggle most with the interracial romance aspect of the film.  When I asked you why you had such strong reactions, you simply responded “I was afraid”.  With a bit more prodding on my end you acknowledged that though you “loved’ the film, watching Lily and Zach together made you fear the inevitable violence that was to (and did) occur.  A Black woman, you appeared to be somewhere in your fifties so it is with no surprise that you responded in the manner that you did.  In that case bruised elbow forgives you.

So we both agreed that we loved the movie.  In fact, I loved it so much that I would go as far as making it a part of my DVD collection.  The performances-most notably those of Dakota Fanning and Sophie Okonedu- were incredible.  The message?  As Lily alluded to in the end, she could let go of the grief related to her mother as she found new mothers in the most unlikely of places.  When we are ready to let go of the past and move forward with hope in the future miraculous things can happen.  It reminds me of a quote I heard from Oprah: “The universe is so compassionate.  It sends you what you need to heal.”  

I understand that some scenes were uncomfortable to watch and can further understand how movies like this can push some audiences away.   It is my hope however that you in particular (and Black folks in general) walk away from movies like this one marveling at how far we’ve come as a people.  The country is about to put a Black man in the White House for goodness sake!  Perhaps we can now begin to cease our lamentations of the past and move forward to embracing a bright and miraculous future. 

 

Best,

The Movie Shrink

Are Comedies More Palatable for Black Folks?

                                                    

BLACK FILMS BY THE NUMBERS…

A few months ago my friend Miriam and I were having a discussion about the then soon-to-be released film, The Secret Life of Bees.  At the time I had not yet read the book (which was fabulous by the way) and Miriam was describing the plot in a nutshell: Black life in the pre-civil rights South.  Our conversation took us to the topic of the portrayal of Black people in films.  Still upset that The Great Debaters was largely ignored by audiences, I asked, why is it that we  tend to skip over uplifting dramas and other “message movies” for the comedic ones?  Just how do we spend our dollars at the box office? So I did some digging and randomly picked Black movies released within the past couple of years.  Consider these opening weekend figures of courtesy of imdb.com:

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins,  $16.2 million

The Great Debaters, $9.1 million

Akeelah and the Bee, $6 million

The Secret Life of Bees, $10.5 million

This Christmas, $17.9 million

ATL , $11.5 million

Madea’s Familiy Reunion, $30 million

Why Did I Get Married?, $21 million

Meet the Browns. $20 million

Talk to Me, $402,000

Norbit, $34 million

Pride, $1.4 million

 

And the winner is….Madea! A round of applause for the chittlin’ circuit!  Clearly, Tyler Perry is a force of nature and will be around for some time.  Though I have strong opinions about his satirical depictions of Black life I give him props for keeping his eye on the prize and marketing a successful brand.  The man knows what his viewers want.  But don’t jump up and down just yet.  Of course one must also consider the number of theatres the above films were released in when comparing the figures. 

 

SLAVERY AND JIM CROW…

So back to my conversation with Miriam.  In that discussion we concluded that slavery and Jim Crow movies are still difficult for Black people to watch.  (Raise your hand if you saw the Oprah-produced Beloved).  However, I suppose that the label “still difficult” insinuates that there was or ever will be a time when we won’t wince, hold our breath, or, let’s just keep it real-talk smack to the movie screen- when a white character uses the “N word”, ties a noose, or rounds up a posse of God-fearing, good ol’ boys.  We might as well pack our bags and teleport ourselves back to the gallows of the ships in the Middle Passage.  Though no white person has ever spit in my face or threatened to string me up by my neck doesn’t mean that these images don’t give me flashbacks of my own encounters with the more covert forms of racism and bigotry.  A little post traumatic stress, anyone?

 

WHERE ARE OUR ARTHOUSE FILMS…

In my quest to get to the root of the matter, I ran this conversation by another friend of mine who is in the performing arts business.  She suggested that comedies are more comfortable for us because we don’t have many genres to choose from.  Touche.  There’s something fishy going on when Hollywood execs tend to only finance “urban comedies”  (First Sunday) and “urban dramas” (Daddy’s Little Girls).  It made me think of a Spike Lee interview I saw while he was promoting The Miracle at St. Anna.  When asked why there was such a gap in between his films he stated that it is hard for him to get Hollywood to greenlight the types of projects that he wants to make.  I can’t remember his exact words but he alluded that Hollywood is eager to throw money at “coonery/buffoonery” projects rather than those with substance.  Things that make you go hmm….  My friend asked me a good question that I still can’t answer- where are our arthouse films?  Where are our Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons?  Why doesn’t Hollywood greenlight these types of projects for Black audiences?  Do they even exist.  I know they must.  If you have any ideas about this please let me know.

 

MORE TYLER PERRY…

My personal feelings about Madea movies notwithstanding I can understand why my brothers and sisters flock to them.  Who wants to dredge up memories of whips and chains when we can release that tension through laughter?  Tyler Perry films are message movies about resilience and strength shown through the “lens” of family and religion.  The subject matter is serious but it is peppered with just the right amount of humor that is relatable to the Black hallelujahfied experiences of pain to purpose.  Madea does for the baby-boomer generation what Amistad and Rosewood couldn’t.  Just a thought.

Finding Purpose in Whale Rider

The Movie

Whale Rider is the coming-of-age story of Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes), an adolescent girl from the Maori (New Zealand) tribe who, after losing her twin brother and mother during childbirth, becomes the heir to her family.  Paikea’s grandfather, Koro (Rawiri Paratene), the village elder, is bitter that his son left New Zealand after the death of Paikea’s mother and is reluctant to teach Paikea the Maori customs simply because she is female.  To channel this frustration, Koro starts a school for boys and refuses Paikea’s every advance to attend the rituals taught there.  Undeterred by her grandfather’s refusal and meanness, Paikea relies on her instincts and challenges conventional Maori wisdom.  What follows are dramatic scenes in which she upstages the village boys in various tasks and eventually fulfills a prophecy within her community.  In the end, Koro is forced to accept Paikea’s birthright, make peace with his family and his ancestors. 

 

The Message

Simply put, this movie is awesome and it pulls the viewer in at every scene with messages about purpose and destiny.  There are several messages in the film.  The first and most obvious is that Paikea refuses to let her gender keep her from doing the impossible.  At several points in the film Koro acknowledges, albeit within himself, that Paikea is the chosen one who is to fulfill the village prophecy and restore peace to the community.  However, he allows past anger to cloud his judgment.  The second and most powerful theme is that Paikea embraces her birthright and follows her intuition despite being laughed at and otherwise ridiculed by her community.  She is unapologetic for defying her grandfather’s commands, listens to her “inner voice”, and relies on her intuition to be her guide.

 

Your Wellness

Can you think of a time when you felt like you were meant to do something but it seemed impossible? Maybe someone told you that you couldn’t learn a particular trade, go to certain school, or closed doors in your face because your money was funny.  Maybe you listened to that person or even tried your best and things still did not work out for you. If you are so confident in your convictions that you can actually see yourself doing whatever it is that you want then you have to buckle down and develop your inner strength.  Like Paikea, you’ve got to listen to your “inner voice” and be confident in your abilities.  Believe it or not, there is actually scientific evidence in “faking it until you make it.”  Trust me, confidence goes a long way.