"Hustle & Flow" Finds a Real Groove

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 122 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Hustle & Flow (2005)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R for sex and drug content, pervasive language, and some violence
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer
PRODUCERS: Stephanie Allain and John Singleton
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Amy Vincent
EDITOR: Billy Fox
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring: Terrence Dashon Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning, Taraji P. Henson, Paula Jai Parker, Elise Neal, DJ Qualls, Ludacris, and Isaac Hayes

DJay (Terrence Dashon Howard) seems like the typical philosopher-hustler – misusing his gift for words as a streetwise pimp living a dead end life on the fringes of Memphis society. Hearing that a former Memphis deejay named Skinny Black (Ludacris) has an album that went platinum makes DJay wonder what happened to all the big dreams he had for his life.

DJay has a chance encounter with Key (Anthony Anderson), an old friend who is a sound engineer. Key also has dreams of being in the music business, and that spurs DJay, who realizes that if he’s going to make his mark, this might be his last chance. He begins writing freestyle raps, and Shelby (DJ Qualls), a church musician with a beat machine, joins DJay and Key to lay down some bass crunching tracks. His housemates, Shug (Taraji P. Henson), an expectant mother, and Nola (Taryn Manning), a young woman DJay pimps out of his car to johns, join him in the creative process as DJay works this new hustle to create the flow that will take him to a better life.

Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow feels so real that the Memphis heat radiates off the screen and made me feel uncomfortable. Simply put, Hustle & Flow is a gritty and grimy drama that captures the desperate essence of hustlers, would-be artists, and struggling artists. Brewer who won the Sundance Film Festival Award in the category “Dramatic” for this film that recreates the real world of low level street pimps and drug dealers; this isn’t the prettified, “super fly,” rap version of pimping and dealing. Brewer’s film is so authentic that it, at times, seems like a documentary that has overdone keeping things real. Still, Brewer uses the first scene in which DJay, Key, and Shelby create a musical track to shock the film into a vibrant life that forces us to focus on this creative trio.

Terence Dashon Howard is a star on the rise, and this performance affirms that. His DJay is an earthy guy who is so common that he barely registers to anyone outside the few women in his life. Howard creates a character that is desperate and hungry, but even more resigned to a life that will soon finish him. Watch Howard bring him to new life as DJay realizes he has a goal; Howard modulates the performance so that neither DJay nor the story every come across as inauthentic to the audience.

Howard and Brewer aren’t alone in their efforts at make this a winning film. Taraji P. Henson’s Shug is so genuinely needy, and as Nola, Taryn Manning molds her performance to give it a contour that perfectly fits the ebbs and flows of Howard’s DJay. Anthony Anderson gives a quiet, but surprisingly nimble dramatic turn that tells us that Hollywood has barely tapped his talents. DJ Qualls also adds a small, but different flavor as the beat maker who is uncannily in sync with everyone else.

Hustle & Flow is not only one of the best dramas set amongst the black folks who live in squalor and deep poverty in a long time, but it rings with truth as few urban dramas have since Boyz N’ the Hood, the directorial debut of John Singleton, who is this film’s co-producer and the man who self-financed the film. I can only hope that Craig Brewer keeps bringing us back to this kind of real thing.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman, and Paul Beauregard for the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"); 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Terrence Howard)

2006 Black Reel Awards: 3 wins: “Best Actor” (Terrence Howard), “Best Original Soundtrack,” and “Best Supporting Actress” (Taraji P. Henson); 3 nominations: “Best Ensemble” (Ludacris, Terrence Howard, DJ Qualls, Taraji P. Henson, Anthony Anderson, Paula Jai Parker, Taryn Manning, and Elise Neal), “Best Film,” and “Best Supporting Actor” (Anthony Anderson)

2006 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Terrence Howard)

Review: Kevin Bacon Deserved Oscar Nod for "The Woodsman" (Happy B'day, Kevin Bacon)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 66 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Woodsman (2004)
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
MPAA – R for sexuality, disturbing behavior, and language
DIRECTOR: Nicole Kassell
WRITERS: Steven Fechter and Nicole Kassell (based upon the play by Steven Fechter)
PRODUCERS: Lee Daniels
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Xavier Perez Grobet
EDITORS: Lisa Fruchtman and Brian A. Kates
Black Reel Award winner

DRAMA with elements of a thriller

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Eve, Mos Def, David Alan Grier, Michael Shannon, Benjamin Bratt, Kevin Rice, and Hannah Pilkes

Walter (Kevin Bacon) spent 12 years in prison on charges of sexually abusing small children. Now, he’s released and trying hard to regain some sense of normalcy in his life. He lands a job working in a lumberyard only because he worked for his boss, Rosen’s (David Alan Grier), father. At the new job, he meets and begins a halting romance with another employee, a woman named Vickie (Kyra Sedgwick), but Walter’s biggest task is to keep from giving in to his compulsions and committing more crimes against children.

The Woodsman, simply put, is as riveting as the most intense horror films (something like The Exorcist) and as heart-stopping as the most extreme action films (Die Hard or The Rock). That’s built on two things – the situation and the Kevin Bacon’s heart-wrenching performance. The plot is tight and deals with the life of a child molester/sex offender in an even-handed way. Of course, there are obviously some genre conventions (Walter’s romance with Vickie and Walter’s struggle to stop another child molester from creating a victim) designed to create a moderately happy or, at least, hopeful ending. Sometimes, The Woodsman seems a bit over the top, in both the portrayal of Walter’s struggles not to offend again, and in the number of other victims or similar situations Walter encounters in what, for us, is a movie under an hour and a half long.

Still, director/co-writer Nicole Kassell and co-writer Steven Fechter do a fantastic job turning a complicated and difficult subject matter and societal issue into a small film that rings with such truth. They make The Woodsman one of those important films that is first a good movie and then, an honest and informative way of presenting the matter as art. I would quibble that the lack of time left some good characters, especially Kyra Sedgwick’s Vickie and Mos Def’s Sgt. Lucas as mere shadows, when they deserved more.

Kevin Bacon’s performance as Walter is one of a handful of performances in 2004 film releases that was overshadowed by Jamie Foxx’s super turn in the Ray Charles biopic, Ray. Bacon quietly, but with such magnum force, details Walter’s internal and external struggles in the way he moves, talks, eats, sleeps, works, etc., and the most-telling parts of the performance are in the nuances, the spaces between the obvious. Long an underrated actor, The Woodman may do for Bacon what Dead Man Walking did for Sean Penn.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2005 Black Reel Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actor, Independent Film” (Mos Def) and “Best Independent Film” (Newmarket Films); 1 nomination: “Best Actress, Independent Film” (Eve)

April 18, 2005

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Review: Top Notch Performances are "The Cider House Rules"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 141 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Cider House Rules (1999)
Running time:  126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic elements, sexuality, nudity, substance abuse and some violence
DIRECTOR: Lasse Halstrom
WRITER: John Irving (based upon his novel)
PRODUCER: Richard N. Gladstein
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Stapleton (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Lisa Zeno Churgin
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Michael Caine, Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, Paul Rudd, Jane Alexander, Kathy Baker, Erykah Badu, Kieran Culkin, Kate Nelligan, Heavy D, and J.K. Simmons

Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire) has lived all his live in an orphanage. His de facto father, the orphanage’s lone physician and director, Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), has trained Homer to be a doctor, learning the same things that Dr. Larch needed to be effective at the orphanage. One day, the compassionate young man decides to leave his home to see the world after meeting Candy Kendall, an unmarried, pregnant young woman (Charlize Theron), and her boyfriend, Lt. Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd). Wally gets Homer a job picking apples in his mother’s orchard with a crew of itinerant workers. Here, he meets the crew chief Mr. Arthur Rose (Delroy Lindo) and his daughter Rose Rose (singer Eryka Badu), which leads him to make the most important decisions of his young life.

Directed by Lasse Halstrom, The Cider House Rules is quite simply a beautiful, well crafted, and superbly acted film. It tugs at all the heartstrings, but the film does so by honestly dealing with emotions and decisions with which the audience can identify. More than anything, it is about making choices and sometimes having to make them when the obvious direction goes against personal beliefs. John Irving adapted his novel of the same title for the screen, and the story readily embraces the idea that a person can do something that makes life better for someone other than himself, even at the cost of personal satisfaction. This could have resulted in a film that was very dry and turned off the audience, but the director and writer weave the situation with such sincerity, grace, wit, and charm that we can’t help but see their view.

The cast is key to this because each actor helps to make his character sympathetic. When the audience sympathizes they will be open to a particular character’s ideas even if it’s counter to what they believe. And The Cider House Rules, which deals with issues of reproductive freedom, adoption, incest, rape, abortion, infidelity, certainly needs likeable characters to make the film enjoyable and not just tolerable.

Maguire is a very good actor; a pleasant young fellow with boyish good looks, he can win the viewer over. He literally carries this film on his back. He does have a kind of facial tick, something like a slight smirk, that seems to pop up at inopportune moments, but otherwise, he endows his characters with a young everyman sort of charm that is both winning and well done.

Seemingly the hardest working actor in the Western world, Michael Caine turns in one of the best performances of his career and earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this role. While Homer’s life seems destined to mimic Dr. Larch’s, Caine’s turn as the doctor sets the philosophical agenda for this film, and he’s more than up to the challenge.

The Cider House Rules is a very good film, and is certainly a high achievement in the pantheon of film rudely called tearjerkers. More than just another weepy, it stands out as an attempt at really conveying something about the human condition, while still being very entertaining.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Michael Caine) and “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published” (John Irving); 5 nominations: “Best Picture” (Richard N. Gladstein), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (David Gropman-art director and Beth A. Rubino-set decorator), “Best Director” (Lasse Hallström), “Best Editing” (Lisa Zeno Churgin) and “Best Music, Original Score” (Rachel Portman)

2000 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Michael Caine

2000 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actress” (Erykah Badu); 1 nomination: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actor” (Delroy Lindo)

2000 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Michael Caine) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (John Irving)

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Review: Birthday Boy Samuel L. Jackson Shines in "Coach Carter"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 140 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Coach Carter (2005)
Running time: 130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, sexual content, language, teen partying, and some drug material
DIRECTOR: Thomas Carter
WRITERS: Mark Schwain and John Gatins (Inspired by the life of Ken Carter)
PRODUCERS: Brian Robbins, Mike Tollin, and David Gale
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sharone Meir
EDITOR: Peter Berger, A.C.E.
Black Reel Award winner

DRAMA/SPORTS

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Ri’chard, Rob Brown, Debbi Morgan, and Ashanti, Rick Gonzalez, Antwon Tanner, Nana Gbewonyo, Channing Tatum, Denise Dowse, and Texas Battle

A true story inspires the film, Coach Carter, in which former high school basketball star named Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) takes the job as the head basketball coach at his alma mater, an inner city high school in Richmond, California. The film is not only inspirational, but is also an excellent look at what one person can do when he demands much of young people – the kind of whom no one expects much except prison, dead end jobs, or death by violence. To watch Carter take on a community that believes that playing on a winning team is the last good thing that will happen in the lives of these young athletes is rousing. It’s also depressingly true because so many people think that the only good thing many young black men have is sports; maybe they’re right, but Carter helped a few of them gain a little high ground.

Watching the team play before he formerly accepts the job, Carter is taken aback by the players’ lack of cohesiveness as a team and their disdain for rudimentary basketball skills. After he takes the job as coach of the Richmond High Oilers, he demands that the players respect both himself and one another. In order to stay on the team, the players must each sign a contract promising to attend class, maintain a 2.3 grade point average (they formerly only needed to maintain a 2.0 gpa), and wear a coat and tie on game day. Carter wants the boys to reach for more in life than just basketball, and he wants them to certainly see attending college as a realistically attainable goal. In the real life story, Carter received both high praise and staunch criticism when he made national news for padlocking the Richmond High gym, benching his entire team, and forfeiting games because some had failed to meet the academic requirements of their contract. The community, which had never had a championship basketball team, erupted in dissension when he refused to allow the players access to the gym for the failing to keep up their grades. The movie Coach Carter is a fictionalized account of the events, from the time Carter became Richmond’s coach to the resolution of the lockout.

Coach Carter is very much a basketball movie; although the script frequently delves into the lives of Ken Carter and some of his players off the court, it does so with a mixture of brevity and succinctness. There are nicely played, but rich subplots. One involves a player, Kenyan Stone (Rob Brown), and his girlfriend, Kyra (singer Ashanti), dealing with teen pregnancy. It is tough, heartfelt, and honest, rather than fake, cloying, and sociopolitical; there’s enough in that subplot to be a movie all its own. A second subplot follows Timo Cruz, superbly played by a rising talent, Rick Gonzalez (The Rookie), a troubled young man who almost becomes a victim of Richmond’s drug culture. One plot that was sadly glossed over (or underdeveloped) is the relationship between Ken Carter and his son, Damien Carter (Robert Ri’chard); Damien leaves a prestigious private school and transfers to Richmond to play for his father, much to Coach Carter’s chagrin, at least initially. That’s pretty much where that subplot ends.

The film really doesn’t deal with the opposition to Ken Carter as being villains. The thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of the community aren’t denigrated. In a non-stereotypical fashion, screenwriters Mark Schwain and John Gatins depict people’s disagreements with Ken Carter as the result of them having limited vision. He shows the good and bad of high school sports, and shows how it can exacerbate the reluctance to strive in people who already have narrow dreams. While Schwain and Gatins deal with the character and philosophical issues, director Thomas Carter makes sure Coach Carter works as a basketball movie. The game sequences have an edge-of-the seat feel to them, the kind of verisimilitude that suggests watching live games up close and personal, as if the viewer were actually in the game. That’s probably better than watching the majority of collegiate and pro basketball telecasts.

As usual, Samuel L. Jackson is the consummate professional actor, and he’s played the best African-American disciplinarian since Morgan Freeman in Lean On Me. He’s a star, and he sells this movie to the audience the way Ken Carter sold his athletes on his message – perhaps more so. Although a movie star, Jackson can climb into a fictional character and give it a skin, bringing the fictional to starkly radiant life. It’s evident from the first time Ken Carter confronts Richmond High Principal Garrison (Denise Dowse) who doesn’t see that both she and he, as well the entire school, must ask these young men to reach for more and to believe that they are capable of more than just being basketball players. This is the kind of really good movie that affirms our way of life and the belief in an American dream, and Jackson is the head salesman and best preacher.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2006 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Director” (Thomas Carter); 3 nominations: “Best Actor” (Samuel L. Jackson), “Best Breakthrough Performance” (Ashanti), and “Best Film”

2006 Image Awards: 1 win “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Samuel L. Jackson); 3 nominations: “Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film/Television Movie” (Thomas Carter), “Outstanding Motion Picture,” and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Ashanti)

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Review: "Far From Heaven" is Heavenly (Happy B'day, Julianne Moore)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 80 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Far From Heaven (2002)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic elements, sexual content, brief violence and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Todd Haynes
PRODUCERS: Jody Patton and Christine Vachon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Lachman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: James Lyons
COMPOSER: Elmer Bernstein

DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, James Rebhorn, Ryan Ward, Lindsay Andretta, Jordan Puryear, and Celia Weston

Last year (2002), a number of people thought that mean old Halle Berry had stolen her Best Actress Oscar for Monster’s Ball from Nicole Kidman for Kidman’s performance in the overblown and somewhat empty Moulin Rouge!. This year, Nicole finally received an Oscar for her performance in the tepid and mediocre The Hours, but she may have been the thief this time. Julianne Moore gives a rich and lush performance as a 1950’s era housewife facing a philandering husband and the era’s strict racial and social mores in Todd Haynes’s Far From Heaven, a film that may have touched too close to home for many in Hollywood's hypocritical, closed, and bigoted community.

Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) is the dream housewife living the dream version of the American dream. Her husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid), has a hot advertising executive job, and together, they have a huge two-story home and two adorable children. They fill their lives with the latest consumer goods, and they throw fancy, catered affairs for their ritzy, upper middle class friends. However, Frank has a skeleton in the closet with him; he’s gay, and he is having an increasingly difficult time suppressing his need to press male flesh. As her marital crisis worsens, Cathy turns to her gardener, Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert), a strapping hunk of black manhood, for comfort. That relationship doesn’t sit well with cracker and spearchunker alike, and racial tensions, which had been on the down low, simmer and threaten to boil over.

Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine) made Far From Heaven a kind of homage to the slick melodramatic films of the 1950’s, in particular the work of director Douglas Sirk. Sirk’s work was ignored for years after his heyday, but he always had a cult following. In the last few decades, many have given his films a more critical and careful review, especially his infamous color remake of the old black and white film, Imitation of Life. Far From Heaven apparently borrows liberally from Sirk’s film, All That Heaven Allows, in which a socialite also falls for her gardener.

Heaven magnificently captures the amazingly rich and colorful look of Technicolor films. It’s like watching a movie from another era, from the impressionistic palette of the photography and the opulent art direction to the lavish costumes and Elmer Bernstein’s fabulous score. It is hard to believe that someone could capture the lost look of the Fifties melodrama, but Haynes ably puts it together.

Haynes’s really impressed me with his script. While he manages to capture the social and personal heat that filmmakers hid under the surface of their films in the 50’s, he also writes a story that revels in and openly mocks the hypocrisy of the supposedly enlightened America of that time. By the 1950’s, the United Stated considered itself the greatest nation on the face of the earth, a land awash in freedom and opportunity, when in reality, freedom and opportunity were simply catch phrases for the powerful sold to the powerless.

Although the film is set in the 1950’s and portrays 50’s era prejudices, the film is perfect for this time, as well as a clear reflection of a past time. Watching Frank Whitaker struggle with his sexuality and watching Cathy and Raymond be persecuted for their friendship, you can’t help but realize that things have not changed. Homosexuality is still taboo today, and many well-known political and public figures still refer to homosexuality as the most heinous sin of all. Interracial friendships of any kind are still call attention to themselves and still cause many people to frown. Today, we give the alleged acceptance of the gay lifestyle and color-blind friendships lip service. However, modern American society is still almost as stuck in the mud as the one portrayed in Heaven.

As good as Haynes and his technical cohorts are in recreating a film that looks like it came from an movie era almost half a century gone, the people who make Far From Heaven more than just a grand technical achievement are the actors. Ms. Moore makes Cathy a charming character, a generous woman with an open heart and a good spirit. She easily rides the good times, but she makes it through the tough; she has to, as we know by the title, that all doesn’t end so very chipper. I was amazed by her performance. She made Cathy’s happiness and satisfaction with her life not just a façade, but the real thing.

So often, middle class housewives are played as secretly unhappy, but Cathy is quiet content; in fact, she adores her life, and she does her best to stay happy even when she encounters difficulty. I’m sure many would consider it politically incorrect to portray a housewife as a strong heroine, fighting to save her marriage, family, and lifestyle Julianne Moore makes you believe; she makes you root for Cathy. She even drew me into the character, so that I felt like I was experiencing every joy, every pain, and every slight that Cathy experienced. What more can one ask of a performer other than that she make you believe and feel?

A lot of people always knew that Dennis Quaid was a very good actor; somehow, a fair assessment of his talent kept getting lost because of his good looks and tomcatting lifestyle. It takes a movie like this and The Rookie to show us what an underrated talent he is. Quaid makes Frank both pathetic and sympathetic – quite complex. He doesn’t allow the viewer to always make an easy assessment of Frank. He’s just a man in a complicated situation fighting his own complications within himself.

Next to Cathy, the best character in this film is Raymond the gardener. He’s a noble Negro full of wisdom, and, at first, that might seem so typical – quiet suffering black man, so strong in the face of silly racism. However, that stereotype is a deliberate creation of Haynes, and Haysbert pulls it off with disarming charm and the knack of a skilled movie thespian. In the kind of film Haynes recreates, Raymond would have been noble, like the God-loving housekeeper in Imitation of Life. Here, the point isn’t his nobility; Raymond simply has to be strong, like Cathy, to survive the slings and arrows of outrageous hypocrites. Somehow, the proper acclaim for Haysbert in this role was nonexistent.

Do you realize that of all the post-season film awards, only the Golden Satellite Awards (as of this writing) recognized Haysbert’s performance with even a nomination (which he also won)? What up? Were (dumb) white critics and voters just too color struck (and dense) to notice the subtlety of both character and performance in Raymond’s case? Or do they feel that awards for Halle and Denzel pretty much take care of awarding darkies for film roles for another decade or so?

Give Far From Heaven a viewing. Not only is it relevant, but it’s quite entertaining with beautiful performances; Julianne Moore’s alone is worth a look. It’s also one of the best films about the culture of class and racial hypocrisy that you’ll ever see.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Julianne Moore). “Best Cinematography” (Edward Lachman), “Best Music, Original Score” (Elmer Bernstein), “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Todd Haynes)

2003 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actor” (Dennis Haysbert)

2003 Golden Globes: 4 nominations: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Elmer Bernstein), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Dennis Quaid), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Julianne Moore), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Todd Haynes)

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Review: "Hotel Rwanda" Won't Let You Feign Ignorance Any Longer (Happy B'day, Don Cheadle)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 76 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Running time: 121 minutes (2 hours, 1 minute)
MPAA – PG-13 on appeal for violence, disturbing images, and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Terry George
WRITER: Keir Person and Terry George
PRODUCER: A. Kitman Ho and Terry George
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Fraisse
EDITOR: Naomi Geraghty
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/WAR

Starring: Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte, Desmond Dube, Joaquin Phoenix, Fena Mokoena, Cara Seymour, and Tony Kgoroge with Jean Reno (no screen credit)

Hotel Rwanda is kind of an African version of Schindler’s List. Some background – in 1994, the African nation of Rwanda, a former Belgian colony, was in a state of civil war with internecine tribal fighting between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi. When Belgium ruled the colony, they used the supposedly lighter-skinned Tutsi to rule the land, but when the Belgians exited the country, the left it to the Hutu. The allegedly dark-skinned Hutu were incredibly embittered of their treatment by the Tutsi during colonial rule, so when Tutsi rebels began fighting the Hutu government, Hutu hatred of the Tutsi grew exponentially. Members of an ethnic Hutu militia called the Interhamwe armed themselves with machetes and attacked Tutsis and Hutus sympathetic with them.

When the President of Rwanda’s (a Hutu) plane was shot down by Tutsi rebels after he signed a peace accord with them, the country fell into utter chaos, and the Interhamwe went on a Tutsi-killing spree that left almost a million people dead when the slaughter ended in July 1994. In an era of round-the-clock news and burgeoning high-speed communication, the genocide went almost unnoticed. Western Europe and the United States did not want to intercede in the conflict between the Hutu government and Tutsi rebels even to stop the ethnic cleansing of Tutsi’s by the Interhamwe (how much control the Hutu government and military had over the Interhamwe is open to debate).

Then-U.S. President Bill Clinton was reluctant to lend any kind of military assistance. Before President Clinton entered office in 1992, the previous presidential administration of George H. Bush had sent Marines into Somalia. After President Clinton surprisingly beat Bush, President Clinton was left holding the bag in Somalia. That turned into a disaster – see Black Hawk Down, for a fictional account of that embarrassment for the President. So President Clinton knew the American public and the increasingly hostile Republicans in Congress would not want more young American soldiers dying to save black Africans. The Clinton administration was even reluctant to call the killing of Tutsi’s genocide.

Hotel Rwanda is based upon the true story of Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle in an Oscar-nominated performance), who was the manager of a Belgian-owned hotel called the Milles Collines in Kigali, Rwanda. Inspired the love of his family and the encouragement of his wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo in an Oscar-nominated supporting role), Paul uses the Milles Collines to shelter Tutsis and Hutus who are sympathetic to them. After the massacre of Tutsi begins, the French and Belgian armed forces eventually arrive to safely transport whites from the hotel, but they refuse to assist the Rwandans. Feeling betrayed by the whites for whom he worked so hard, Paul uses all his smarts and wiles to keep the Interhamwe and Rwanda military from taking his remaining hotel “guests” (Tutsi and Hutu) and killing them all. By the time all is said and done, Paul saves 1268 people. Hotel Rwanda is his story of survival and how he helped others survive at the cost of his and his family’s lives.

Directed by Terry George, Hotel Rwanda is simply a powerful film. As a drama, it is also a powerful film thriller, as riveting as any scary movie or special effects laden action flick. George and actor Don Cheadle never let the audience forget that there isn’t a minute that goes by when the occupants of the Milles Collines are not in danger. The script, co-written by George, is good, but George’s direction and the rhythm he uses to create a seamless advance of the narrative carry with it the film’s dominant theme – Paul Rusesabagina’s determination to save lives because he believes people should not merely be murdered by the whim of ignorant bigots, no matter how big a majority the bigots may have. With quiet grit and determination, Cheadle reveals the tale of strength in his face and in his entire body. He doesn’t look like he’s acting; he looks like a man on a holy mission. Sophie Okonedo as Tatiana gives a good performance (which occasionally seems a tad too thick), and Nick Nolte’s performance isn’t great, but whenever his Colonel Oliver is onscreen, the character fits and his presence is really needed – both in the fiction and in the filmmaking.

Hotel Rwanda, however, does play with a double-edged sword. It’s hard to believe that anyone could make a PG-13 movie about genocide, but George does. With that rating, he makes the film accessible to the young people who should see this, but might not be able to view R rated films. However, the genocide in Rwanda 1994 needed the kind of visual brutality that Steven Spielberg used so well in Schindler’s List. George compensates by making Hotel Rwanda as much about Rusesabagina’s story as it is about the genocide, which keeps the drama from being a documentary. Still, anyone who likes powerful, superbly made dramas that also portray acts in human history that must be recorded in fact and told as art and fiction, movies like Schindler’s List and The Killing Fields, will not only enjoy Hotel Rwanda, but must also see it.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Don Cheadle), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Sophie Okonedo) and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Keir Pearson and Terry George)

2006 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Keir Pearson and Terry George)

2005 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress, Drama” (Sophie Okonedo); 1 nomination: “Best Actor, Drama” (Don Cheadle)

2005 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Wyclef Jean-music/lyrics, Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis-music, and Andrea Guerra-music for the song "Million Voices"), and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Don Cheadle)

2005 Image Awards: 3 nomination: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Don Cheadle), “Outstanding Motion Picture,” and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Sophie Okonedo)

April 29, 2005

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Review: "Mr. 3000" Gets Save from Mac and Bassett (Happy B'day, Bernie!)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 192 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mr. 3000 (2004)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content and language
DIRECTOR: Charles Stone III
WRITERS: Eric Champnella and Keith Mitchell and Howard Michael Gould; from a story by Eric Champnella and Keith Mitchell
PRODUCERS: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, and Maggie Wilde
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Shane Hurlbut
EDITOR: Bill Pankow

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE/SPORTS

Starring: Bernie Mac, Angela Bassett, Michael Rispoli, Brian J. White, Ian Anthony Dale, Evan Jones, Amaury Nolasco, Dondre Whitfield, Paul Sorvino, Earl Billings, Chris Noth, and John McConnell

In 1995, Stan Woods (Bernie Mac) got his 3000th hit as a Major League baseball player, thereby (according to him) assuring him of his place among the immortals of baseball and guaranteeing him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Vain and jaded, Stan, however, retired in the middle of the same season and on the same day he got his 3000th hit. Nine years later, his reputation as selfish has kept him out of the Hall because the baseball writers (who vote on admission into the Hall) still don’t like him. If that weren’t enough, baseball officials suddenly disqualify three of the hits, for which he was apparently credited due to a clerical error. Woods now officially has 2997 hits, but he has been living it up as his business alter ego, Mr. 3000, merchandising himself and using the moniker for his business ventures.

Now, Stan wants back into the Major Leagues, and because his old team, the Milwaukee Brewers, is losing, Brewer ownership is glad to have him back. Mr. 3000 was and still is a fan favorite, but he’s returning as a 47-year old man who is way out of shape. His old manager, Gus Panas (Paul Sorvino), isn’t welcoming him back with open arms, because he and Woods didn’t get along back in the day. The current Brewers roster is filled with young players who don’t fully focus their attentions on the game. Also, an old flame, Mo (Angela Bassett), is now a reporter with ESPN, and she is very skeptical of Woods’ motives for returning, as is the rest of the press. Can Mr. 3000 get back in shape, earn Mo’s trust, relearn his childhood love of the game, and pass it on to a new generation of teammates?

Mr. 3000 is very similar to the baseball romantic comedy Bull Durham, except that the romance between Bernie Mac and Angela Bassett’s characters has more edge to it than the Kevin Costner-Susan Sarandon love fest of Bull Durham. Durham also had a great script; Mr. 3000 doesn’t. This film’s screenplay has all the markings of being something special, but it ultimately falls apart; I don’t know if this is because of studio interference or because the film was ultimately edited for time, but the writing fumbles at the one-foot line.

Good characters are introduced and dropped. Other characters hang around and aren’t properly utilized. However, the film’s most egregious error is trying to fit an adult comedy/drama/romance into the mold of being a light-hearted family baseball film. Mac’s character is a hardass, even more so than many people believe baseball superstar Barry Bonds to be. Mac, for that matter, is an R-rated personality who seems out of place in PG or PG-13 rated productions. Trying to make Mr. 3000 a family film is like trying to put Richard Pryor’s edgy act into a kids’ animated feature.

As badly as the romantic angle of this film is handled, the baseball part of this film is also betrayed. The filmmakers get the technical aspects of filming a baseball movie correct, but the spirit, flavor, and atmosphere of the game doesn’t come through as well as it should. And the story choice of having the team fighting to move from fifth place to third just doesn’t have the heat that having the Brewers chase a title would.

Mac and Ms. Bassett are great together and have excellent screen chemistry. They ably sell their screen couple’s troubled relationship – that the duo can love each other a lot but so irritate each other. To see a black actor and actress together in such a unique romantic entanglement is a treat. We already know that Ms. Bassett is a fine actress, but Bernie Mac also shows his acting chops. Hopefully, both will get better material in the future, but Mr. 3000, warts and all, is still worth seeing.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2005 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Actor, Musical or Comedy” (Bernie Mac); 2 nominations: “Best Actress, Musical or Comedy” (Angela Bassett) and “Best Director” (Charles Stone III)

2005 Image Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Angela Bassett)

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Review: "The Fighting Temptations" Has Good Music and a Good Message (Happy B'day, Beyonce)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 148 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Fighting Temptations (2003)
Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, 3 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual references
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Lynn
WRITERS: Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson; from a story by Elizabeth Hunter
PRODUCERS: David Gale, Loretha C. Jones, Benny Medina, and Jeff Pollack
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Affonso Beato
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring: Cuba Gooding, Jr., Beyoncé Knowles, Mike Epps, Steve Harvey, Angie Stone, Wendell Pierce, Ann Nesby, Faith Evans, Melba Moore, LaTanya Washington, Lou Myers, James E. Gaines, Rev. Shirley Ceasar, Rue McClanahan, Dave Sheridan, Faizon Love, and Eddie Levert, Sr.

Many, many movies are so hackneyed and contrived that you can see the contrivances minutes and if not hours ahead of the actual arrival time. Painfully predictable are the ideas and woefully stereotypical are the characters, but sometimes the movie is so absolutely entertaining and hilarious that it gives a bit of a jolt to the tired term “feel good movie.” Director Jonathan Lynn’s The Fighting Temptations is one that breaks away from the worn mold of which it was created. It is so awe-inspiring and uplifting that it just might have feet tapping for years to come.

Darrin Hill (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is a fast-talking junior level advertising executive who gets canned from his job for lying on his resume. He gets notice that his Aunt Sally (Ann Nesby) has died, so he returns to his hometown of Monte Carlo, Georgia for the funeral, a hometown he and his mother Maryann Hill (Faith Evans) left decades ago when Maryann was kicked from the church choir for singing secular music in a juke joint. Aunt Sally has left Darrin a small fortune ($150,000 in stocks), but to get it he has to direct the local church choir and take them to the annual Gospel Explosion music contest in Atlanta. Darrin, however, faces a stiff challenge for control of the choir from a self-righteous Christian hypocrite (LaTanya Washington). Of course, Darrin also finds a love interest in Lilly (Beyoncé Knowles), a single mother, and she mistrusts Darrin whom she sees as a slick conman.

It would be easy to point out how predictable The Fighting Temptations is, but the truth of the matter is that none of that matters. It’s a wonderful fairy tale full of toe-tapping music that takes the tried-and-true movie formula and uses it con mucho gusto to make TFT like an entirely new song. It’s almost impossible to dislike a movie that so immerses itself in Southern and “down home” stereotypes without demeaning the South. It shows that the eccentricities that are familiar to the South aren’t a bad thing, but are what makes living in the dirty worth it in spite of the bad things.

The music and singing, so big-hearted and full-throated, is what makes this film so special. The humor, however, is tart, tangy, sharp, and occasionally very edgy (especially the running commentary and satire of church people and Christian hypocrites) is also what separates it from being a paint-by-numbers R&B/gospel-flavored film. It’s so much fun, and so damn special.

The acting is pretty good, and Ms. Knowles carries herself quite well despite what previews (with scenes taken out of context) might show, plus the girl can sing down the roof with those awesome pipes. Cuba has seen better days (Jerry Maguire and As Good as it Gets), but he’s purportedly seen worse. Most of the time, he seems a bit stiff and over-compensating, but the truth of the matter is that when he’s allowed to let some of his boundless energy and sharp wit out, he’s absolutely fascinating; he just doesn’t do maudlin drama (and there’s some in this film) well.

It would be nice if a wide audience embraces this film, although early indications are that white folks are staying away. It’s a pity since The Fighting Temptations would probably entertain Southerners of all backgrounds as well as audiences who like My Big Fat Greek Wedding because TFT has a good message about love of family and home. And the music’s so damn (Lawd, forgive me) good.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards: 2 wins: “Best Song” (Beyoncé Knowles and Walter Williams Sr. for "He Still Loves Me") and “Film: Best Soundtrack;” 3 nominations: “Best Actress” (Beyoncé Knowles), “Film: Best Screenplay-Original or Adapted” (Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson), and “Film: Best Theatrical”

2004 Image Awards: 1 win for “Outstanding Motion Picture” and 1 nomination: “Actress in a Motion Picture” (Beyoncé Knowles)

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Review: Denzel Washington Blew Minds with "Training Day"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Training Day (2001)
Running time: 122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)
MPAA – R for brutal violence, pervasive language, drug content and brief nudity
DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua
WRITER: David Ayer
PRODUCERS: Bobby Newmyer and Jeffrey Silver
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mauro Fiore (director of photography)
EDITOR: Conrad Buff
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Tom Berenger, Harris Yulin, Raymond J. Barry, Cliff Curtis, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Macy Gray, Charlotte Ayanna, and Eva Mendes

After not winning the Oscar for Best Actor 1999 for his portrayal of the noble but controversial Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (to the worthy Kevin Spacey), Denzel Washington may likely not earn even an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the thoroughly evil and corrupted L.A. cop Alonzo Harris in Training Day. [Actually, after I wrote this, Washington did earn both an Oscar nomination and a win for his portrayal of Harris – Leroy 2010/7/10.]

Training Day begins with Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), a young cop of 19 months, earns an assignment to the narcotics division under the tutelage of Harris. From the get go, Harris is rude and crude to Hoyt, and before long Harris takes Hoyt on a whirlwind tour of the seamy underbelly of L.A. County: gang neighborhoods, slums, drug dealing, and police corruption. But a recent miscue haunts Harris, and his attempt to get from under the cloud his carelessness has earned him brings the movie to its abrupt, brutal, and violent end. All the while, Hoyt struggles to maintain his law-abiding nature.

Washington is shocking, brilliant and intense as the dirty cop Harris. Known for playing clean policemen, upright detectives, and uplifting African-American heroes, Washington’s turn as a villain will wake people up to this artistic diverse resume. That he is one of the great actors of the last 15 years in not debatable. The passion that he brought to his role in The Hurricane, he brings here, and one can see passion in his eyes, in his gestures, and in the way he carries himself. It is the most invigorating character Washington has played since The Hurricane.

Hawke remains a player of mostly melancholy characters for which one can feel the deepest sympathy. He is an everyman with matinee idol good looks and charm, although it’s hard to accept his character late in the movie as Hoyt vengefully stalks Harris. He isn’t miscast; the movie just goes slightly awry, focusing on Harris’s evil rather than Hoyt’s coming of age as a policeman.

Antoine Fuqua (the director of the clumsy The Replacement Killers) brings the eye he used as a director of music videos to the film, but with the sensibility to follow a longer, more coherent story than is usually found in videos. Training Day’s pace is steady and breezy, and doesn’t start to stumble until the last quarter.

This isn’t entirely his fault. David Ayer, a rising screen writing star (U-571, The Fast and the Furious) convinces us until the last fifteen minutes or so of this film that Harris will get away with it. Harris’s ideology isn’t entirely unacceptable to mainstream audiences. If his believe system works and keeps the streets clean, most citizens would be happy as long as the could keep their hands clean and the truth buried so that they never have to deal with him and look the other way. It must be Ayers’s goody-two shoes nature that resolves things in the direction in which he does. It is sometimes nice when a movie eschews a happy ending, and the happy ending is usually positive, even when negative would have been more believable. This time the happy ending would have been the ugly truth, and this movie deserved a happy ending.

Not to reveal too many things, but with a deadline looming to save his life, Harris wouldn’t have stopped for a dalliance.

An entertaining cop flick, Training Day is good look at excellent work from a very talented actor, Washington. It may come across as harsh for those who like him as a romantic, good guy leading man, but it’s great for those who want a tour de force from a screen artist.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Denzel Washington); 1 nomination: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Ethan Hawke)
2002 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Denzel Washington)
2002 Black Reel Awards: 3 wins: “Black Reel Theatrical - Best Actor” (Denzel Washington), “Theatrical - Best Director” (Antoine Fuqua), and “Theatrical - Best Film;” 1 nominations: “Best Song” (Nelly for the song "#1")

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Review: "Good Hair" Hilarious, But Fairly Empty

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 49 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Good Hair (2009)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some language including sex and drug references, and brief partial nudity
DIRECTOR: Jeff Stilson
WRITERS: Lance Crouther, Chris Rock, Chuck Sklar, and Jeff Stilson with Paul Marchand
PRODUCERS: Jenny Hunter, Kevin O'Donnell, Nelson George, and Jeff Stilson
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Cliff Charles (director of photography) and Mark Henderson
EDITORS: Paul Marchand and Greg Nash
COMPOSER: Marcus Miller

DOCUMENTARY

Starring: Chris Rock, Maya Angelou, Eve, Melyssa Ford, Megan Goode Ice-T, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton, Rev. Al Sharpton, Raven-Symoné, and Traci Thoms

At the beginning of his documentary, Good Hair, Chris Rock says that his daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, “Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?” Bewildered, the Emmy-winning comedian, talk show host, and actor decided to find out what in African-American culture would put such a question in his little girl’s mind. To find answers, Rock, the film’s star and narrator, crosses continents and oceans. Traveling from New York to Atlanta and from India to Los Angeles, Rock visits a hair show, a scientific lab, a hair products manufacturer, and an Indian temple. Rock also visits numerous hair salons.

Along the way, he explores the way Black hairstyles impact Black people’s lifestyles and activities, pocketbooks, and sexual relationships. He even gets African-American women to talk about how their hair affects their self-esteem. A number of celebrities, entertainment industry figures, and public figures (from Maya Angelou and Rev. Al Sharpton to Ice-T and Salt-N-Pepa) candidly offer their stories and observations about Black hair. He may not get his answers, but Rock will discover that Black hair is a big business that doesn't always benefit the Black community.

The truth is that Good Hair, directed by Jeff Stilson, is less a documentary than it is like a feature news piece one might see on “20/20” or "Dateline NBC." There is a lot of funny stuff here, some of it quite shocking, but most of this movie really lacks a social or historical context. Rock and his co-writers certainly get close enough. For instance, the film reveals the fact that a large segment of the “black hair industry” is controlled by Asian-Americans who shut out African-American entrepreneurs. Rock touches upon it, but never really delves into that. He just skims the fact that in the 1980s, white-owned corporations like Revlon set out to remove Black-owned companies and corporations from the hair care business, where over 80 percent of the money comes from African-American customers.

No, rather than really examine the lack of Black ownership, Good Hair brings it up and then, it’s on to the next freak show. And that’s what this movie is – a freak show. It is very entertaining – often hugely entertaining, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who is African-American or is interested in African-American culture. There is even a touch of sadness here, as if the filmmakers were recording an on-going tragedy. Good Hair, sadly, is a documentary that touches upon greatness, but ultimately decides to be little more than a delightful and hilarious puff piece.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2010 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Black Reel Best Documentary”

2010 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Documentary (Theatrical or Television)”

Saturday, July 03, 2010

"Something New" is Quite Cool

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 135 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Something New (2006)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual references
DIRECTOR: Sanaa Hamri
WRITER: Kriss Turner
PRODUCER: Stephanie Allain
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Shane Hurlbut
EDITOR: Melissa Kent
Black Reel Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Simon Baker, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Mike Epps, Taraji P. Henson, Donald Faison, Alfre Woodard, Blair Underwood, Golden Brooks, Earl Billings, and Matt Malloy

Kenya Denise McQueen (Sanaa Lathan) has carefully calculated her professional life, and the young African-American accounting executive is up for partner at the firm for which she works. Still, she’s concerned that her personal life doesn’t measure up to her professional success. She accepts a blind date coordinated by a colleague, but the blind date turns out to be a white man named Brian Kelly (Simon Baker). She brushes him off, but that’s not the last she hears from Brian. He also turns out to be the sexy, free-spirited landscape architect a friend recommends. A relationship develops between Kenya and Brian, but though he’s comfortable with her, she can’t get past the fact that he is a white man. She’s later meets the IBM, the Ideal Black Man, a tax attorney named Mark (Blair Underwood), and they seemingly hit it off. Although Mark seems like her dream come true, Kenya’s heart might be somewhere else – regardless of what her friends, family, and the rest of society have to say.

Something New is the latest film about interracial (an absurd term) dating. The best-known recent examples include Spike Lee’s infamous Jungle Fever and the Julia Stiles hit, Save the Last Dance. Something New is not as incendiary as the former, nor does it have the youthful passion of the latter. The film by director Sanaa Hamri and writer Kriss Turner (a TV scribe whose credits include “Whoopi” and “Everybody Hates Chris”) is rather tame, but gets its energy from a willing cast. We know what the film is supposed to be about – unexpected love, but we know what this film is really about – a black girl dating a white guy. The actors grapple with that, and all they have to work with is Turner’s screenplay, which doesn’t know if it’s a love story or a lesson planner. Everything seems a little too loose, in a subject matter that demands structure (although I may be wrong) Still, what Turner’s script and Hamri’s directing offer would be enough to make this a good film. The actors make Something New a little better than just “good.”

One really impressive thing about this is that it showcases so many talented Black actors, whom we’d normally not see, at least not more than once a year. Alfre Woodard is fantastic as Kenya’s mother, Joyce McQueen, and one can only assume that being a Black actress has more often than not been an impediment to her career. Here, she shines as a woman madly wedded to her social status and to the idea that her children should live up to it – or so it seems. Wendy Raquel Robinson is equally good as the friend/voice of reason, Cheryl.

Leads Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker do have screen chemistry, mostly because they play their characters so well, knowing exactly what to give their characters respective to the needs of the story. It’s their performances, in particularly Sanaa Lathan’s that gives this film its juice. Lathan practically emanates career obsession and embodies the hard-working, professional black woman tightly holding it together in all the ways it takes to climb the corporate ladder. At times, it is uncanny how true she makes Kenya’s reactions to people and situations. Her acting in the Starbucks’ scene when Kenya first meets Brian is uncommonly good – the art of verisimilitude with an attention to detail that gives this scene a documentary feel. It’s everything she does. Kenya’s vainly subtle ticks when she’s in public with Brian seem like painful compromises with strangers so that they won’t sneer at her for being with a white man. Those things that Lathan does make this a genuinely moving picture.

Baker is perfect as the laid-back, free spirit who just won’t hide his disdain for social hang-ups. In the end, he tips the balance and makes this movie seem, if not quite real, honest in its intentions. Something New makes its points in a gentle way while offering several entertaining supporting characters and then occasionally gives the viewer a hard nudge thanks to fine situational acting. Something New is the good choice for those wishing to either make that leap to the other side or just see how cool things could be if we all just got along… or at least the few of us who get along no matter what the hell the others have to say

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Movie Review: "Brown Sugar" Was Much Needed

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 62 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Brown Sugar (2002)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content and language
DIRECTOR: Rick Famuyiwa
WRITERS: Michael Elliot and Rick Famuyiwa, from a story by Michael Elliot
PRODUCER: Peter Heller
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Earvin “Magic” Johnson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeff Barnett and Enrique Chediak (director of photography)
EDITOR: Dirk Westervelt
Black Reel Award winner

ROMANCE with elements of drama

Starring: Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, Mos Def, Nicole Ari Parker, Boris Kodjoe, and Queen Latifah

National Basketball Association legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson entered the world of filmmaking as executive producer in what 20th Century Fox billed as a hip-hop romance, Brown Sugar. The truth of the matter is that the hip-hop has very little to do with the romance other than being window dressing. The fact of the matter is that Brown Sugar is actually a nice romance.

Dre (Taye Diggs) and Sidney (Sanaa Lathan, Love & Basketball) have been friends since childhood. Dre is a successful record executive and Sidney wrote articles on hip-hop music for the Los Angeles Times before moving on to run XXL magazine. They’re each other’s best friend, sharing the good times and the bad and sharing gossip and the intimate secrets of their lives. They only once came close to consummating their deep friendship as serious love, but avoided it. However, when Dre rushes into marriage with Reese (Nicole Ari Parker, Remember the Titans), a high society money girl that he hasn’t known very long, Sidney has mixed feelings, and her deeper love for Dre begins to surface.

Director Rick Famuyiwa (The Wood) and co-writer Michael Elliot seemed determined to make a film that’s simply about romance in which hip-hop is as important to the story as the romance is. Both characters are obviously big fans of hip-hop; both their careers are built around it. The writers even have the characters mouth platitudes about how great hip-hop is. But no matter how much they talk about hip-hop, rap music, or whatever you want to call it, the story of the film is about two friends finally succumbing to the love they have for each other that they both denied for so long, a denial that has one in a bad marriage and the other about to enter into one. The hip-hop love jones is strained and forced, and it severely hampers the romantic center of this movie; the love story is natural and flows.

This film may not be as well known as more “mainstream” and “traditional” romantic films like Sleepless in Seattle or When Harry Met Sally, but Brown Sugar is good. It’s not perfect, but when I was growing up, films like this simply didn’t exist. They couldn’t; racist Hollywood didn’t want to make them, and the beast always claimed that there was no audience for such a film. Well, there’s always an audience for good films; it may not be as large as the audience for Titanic, but people will find a good movie.

I must say that the performances outshine the film. Taye Diggs is a good actor, and he has the stature and emotional range to play a leading man. Can’t you just see how much fun he would have been in something like Boomerang? Ms. Lathan is new to me, but I like what she has to offer. She easily skates through her character of this soft script, managing to be a comedian, a heroine, and a lovelorn professional gal just looking for true love. Queen Latifah adds spark to this film, although her part is quite small, but her hip-hop colleague, Mos Def, is another find. He played the sidekick very well, and he manages to be “real” as a hip-hop artist without once calling a bitch a ho or threatening to peal a nigga’s cap back. He’s a natural, quite comfortable on screen, and I hope to see more of him.

If Magic Johnson has more films like Brown Sugar up his sleeves, by all means, he should go to fewer Laker games and more studio briefings.

6 of 10
B