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  • Writer's pictureRenee

Check your privilege at the door...

Updated: Apr 8, 2021

An attempt to listen more and talk less:


Four films that speak to this moment.

Created by black film makers, reviewed by black critics.


#1 See You Yesterday, 2019

Directed by Stefon Bristol

Starring Eden Duncan-Smith, Dante Crichlow, Astro

Review by Candice Frederick for the New York Times



What would happen if “Back to the Future” starred black people? That’s what the filmmaker Stefon Bristol imagines in “See You Yesterday” (there’s even a winking cameo by Michael J. Fox), now on Netflix, which centers on C. J. (Eden Duncan-Smith), a high school science prodigy who builds a time-traveling backpack.


But instead of going back to the past to save her parents’ marriage, as Marty McFly did, she rewinds the previous 24 hours in hopes of preventing the murder of her brother by the police. As in “Back to the Future,” C.J. must be careful not to change a single aspect of the past lest she provoke a different but equally fateful event. For C.J., though, doom seems unavoidable either way, turning what could have been a fun time-travel tale into an ominous, sorrowful story that underscores the expendability of black lives.


That’s a necessary message, reminding audiences that even in a world in which time travel is possible, the stakes are graver for black characters than for their white peers. In that sense, “See You Yesterday,” which was produced by Spike Lee, robs audience members — particularly young ones — of any sense of joy in fantasy and of the chance to celebrate a rare black female time traveler.


But maybe that’s the point. Black kids often don’t have the luxury of living in a reverie.


At its core, “See You Yesterday” is a story about grief and the inevitable question so many mourners have asked themselves: Could I have done anything to forestall my loved one’s death? Although the film doesn’t sugarcoat the horrors of police brutality, it does empower C.J. to think she has invented a loophole around it. That is the dream worth cherishing.

Available to stream on Netflix


 

#2 Blindspotting, 2018

Directed by Carlos López Estrada

Starring, Produced and Written by Daveed Diggs and Raphael Casal

Review by Amon Warmann for Empire Online



Midway through Blindspotting— an attention-grabbing first feature from newcomer Carlos López Estrada — the titular term is illustrated via Rubin’s vase, a famous optical illusion in which the eye can see either a vase or two faces depending on what their brain reacts to first. It’s the perfect metaphor for many of the themes at play over its taut 95 minutes, especially as it pertains to racial bias.


Developed by the film’s stars Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal over a ten-year period, Blindspotting is, at its core, a buddy comedy. Mild-mannered black man Collin (Diggs) is doing his best to stay out of trouble as he serves out the last three days of his probation, a task made more difficult by Miles (Casal), his white, volatile best friend. We get the sense that the marked difference in their skin tone and how that affects their lives is not one of the many topics they discuss — often in conversations that turn into brilliantly poetic freestyles — but that changes when Collin witnesses a cop (Ethan Embry) gun down an unarmed black man.


Through multiple elaborately styled sequences that see Estrada break out everything from split screens to crane shots and more, we slowly see the effect this has on Collin’s psyche, and Diggs’ soulful, tender performance makes him easy to root for. Meanwhile, as the neighbourhood around him begins to change, Miles has to reckon with his white privilege and the black culture he’s co-opted all his life, and Casal’s performance is appropriately fiery.


That Estrada and co manage to put so many socially relevant issues under the microscope without becoming preachy — at least, until a final contrived showdown that doesn’t quite work — is an impressive achievement, and the ambition and creativity on display here ensures that in a year where several movies have dealt with the black experience and racial injustice, Blindspotting stands out.


By equal turns tense and witty but with plenty of perceptive social commentary to go around, this is a film that only gets more rewarding the more you look under its surface.

Available to Stream on Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBOgo


 

#3 Boyz N The Hood, 1991

Directed by John Singleton

Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Hudhail Al-Amir, Angela Basset, Ice Cube

Review by LLoyd Bradley for Empire Online



Arriving to pre-publicity involving riots, looting sprees and a body count, it's easy to suppose Boyz N The Hood's appeal lies in an easily-accessed glamourisation of violence. Happily such assumptions are without substance. The film not only lives up to its "Increase The Peace" subtitle but by refusing to overtly moralise puts its concerns across with astonishing impact.


The "Boyz" are three kids looking for very different things as they pass out of their teens: university; doing nothing yet not returning to jail; and a career on the football field. The "Hood" (neighbourhood) is the gang-law killing fields of South Central LA. And the story, such as it is, observes their lives in two chunks, at age six and, mainly, 11 years later.


This well-worn coming of age theme is given no special treatment (the kids' extraeneous worries involve parents, girls, cars and having fun), and the series of minutely detailed everyday incidents opens participants' lives to the point at which you feel part of them. It's once you know the area's vibrant cross-section of personalities, attitudes and ambitions - very few of them gang affiliated - that the increasingly obvious background takes on genuinely shocking proportions. A girl's concentration on her homework is repeatedly broken by gun fire; helicopter searchlights illuminate living rooms as families watch TV; and unfamiliar cars prompt panic on porches. When tension finally spills over into the inevitable pointless murder, attention is focussed not on the act but (rarely bothered with in comparable films) on the immediate effect on the family of the bloody death of a 17-year-old boy. The scenes are a horribly damning indictment of the situation, but the film as whole goes further.


Singleton's portrait of local residents as exactly what you'd find in any other part of town, just less wealthy, affords a dignity and air of normality to black life. But more importantly, their self-containedness (characters and lives are not seen merely as relative to white people) allows the underlying message of their need to take responsibility for themselves to be perceived as able to offer a solution.


A film any seasoned director would be proud of, but as a debut is nothing short of amazing.

Available to Stream on Hulu and Amazon Prime


 

#4 13th, 2016

Directed by Ava DuVernay

Starring Melina Abdullah, Michelle Alander, Cory Booker

Review by Pierre-Antoine Louis for the New York Times


The Netflix documentary “13th,” directed by Ava DuVernay, explores the way in which police brutality and mass incarceration go hand in hand. The film got its name from the 13th Amendment, which in 1865 abolished slavery and involuntary servitude “except as punishment for a crime”; scholars and historians examine how that quickly led to the systematic criminalization of black people. This powerful and thought-provoking documentary walks us through the system of incarceration and the economic forces behind racism in America, specifically its compound effects on black people since the abolishment of slavery.


Available to Stream on Netflix and Youtube


 

Ava DuVernay also directed the historical drama Selma, which is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


#5 Selma, 2014

Directed by Ava DuVernay

Starring David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, and Oprah Winfrey

Review by Amon Warmann for DIY



"A timely film whose importance cannot go overstated."

In some ways, the absence of “I Have a Dream” from Selma - incredibly only the first feature film to give the biopic treatment to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr - is symbolic of the film as a whole. It’s the four words the civil right leader is most known for, but director Ava DuVernay is interested in far more than just compelling oratory.

Selma focuses its gaze on a three-month period in 1965 when King (David Oyelowo) led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights for African-American citizens. The first act sets up the shrewd tactics necessary to induce change; Having campaigned in Albany for nine months with no results, it’s decided that Selma is the place to stage the protest, the county already a fervent breeding ground of racial inequality and therefore more likely to garner media attention. While the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) work diligently to force President Lyndon B. Johnson (an effective Tom Wilkinson) into action, the film also offers up an examination of how the civil rights movement affected its leader, both at home and as a man.

From the outset, the screenplay from Paul Webb and Duvernay (who is uncredited despite giving the script a major overhaul) strives for more than the simple ‘great man’ storytelling that is found in many Hollywood biopics today. This Martin Luther King cracks jokes with his buddies at the dinner table and then takes out the trash. This Martin Luther King worries about what his friends back home will think of him in his fancy getup. Simply put, this Martin Luther King is a man.

Moreover, he’s a man with some serious problems and doubts. On more than one occasion, King questions how long he can continue leading the campaign. Only through the words and wisdom of others is he given strength to carry on. Indeed, Selma goes to great lengths to show the work that went into the movement as a whole, giving King’s allies Andrew Young (André Holland), John Lewis (Stephan James), Ralph Abernathy (Colman Domingo) and others moments to shine while keeping the focus on the central issues at play.

Additionally, Selma admirably doesn’t shy away from King’s private troubles at home, and a scene in which he is confronted by his wife Coretta (a superb and efficient Carmen Ejogo) over his infidelity is a masterclass on the usage and impact of silence.

This is not to say that you don’t get the righteous, laudable King at all – far from it. Nobody actually verbalises the fact that King is an inspirational leader, but we’re implicitly shown that that’s the case throughout. It’s there when he’s comforting loved ones for their loss. It’s clear again when he’s strategizing with his most trusted colleagues. And it’s most evident when he’s giving impassioned speeches, all of which slowly build to powerful and stirring climaxes.

As King, Oyelowo is superlative. More than just the spot-on cadences and the physical transformation – he shaved his hairline and put on 30 pounds for the role – he expertly reflects King’s mental and spiritual weariness while concurrently embodying the charisma and spirit of the icon. Oyelowo has produced strong work previously in films such as The Butler and Red Tails but this is a transcendent, career-best performance. Whether in small or sizable roles the rest of the ensemble all manage to leave an effective impression, unsurprising when the cast includes veteran character actors like Tim Roth, Wendell Pierce, Martin Sheen, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr and Giovanni Ribisi.

Lee Daniels and Stephen Frears were both positioned to direct Selma before DuVernay was attached, and with her third and biggest feature she solidifies herself as a director to watch. As with her previous film Middle of Nowhere (also starring Oyelowo), she’s aided once more by ace cinematographer Bradford Young, and it’s an impressive collaboration. Not only are there any number of shots which are impeccably framed and lit, the violence is staged in appropriately visceral fashion. Nowhere is this more evident than the ‘Bloody Sunday’ sequence on Edmund Pettus Bridge, wherein every lash of a whip and every crack of a bat is given maximum impact. Angering as well as inspiring, Selma is also a timely film whose importance cannot go overstated. To that end, the song that plays over the credits – entitled ‘Glory’ by Common and John Legend – is a moving ballad that beautifully merges past with present.

Currently Available to Stream for Free on Google Play and Amazon Prime


 

Further Reading:

New York Times writers curated a list of works including film, visual art, poetry, literature and music, that illuminate and tackle issues of police brutality, social injustice and racial inequity.


Additional Viewing:

VPRO Documentary on YouTube, 48 mins


Documentary by Laurens Grant on YouTube, 39 mins


Source:

By Ben Travis and Amon Warmann

 

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