Pariah - Review

PARIAH

Written & Directed by Dee Rees

Producers - Spike Lee, Jeff Robinson, Sam Martin, Mary Jane Skalski, Stefan Nowicki, Benjamin Weber, Joey Carey & Nekisa Cooper

Cinematography by Bradford Young

Starring           

Adepero Oduye - Alike

Pernell Walker - Laura

Charles Parnell - Arthur

Kim Wayans - Audrey

Aasha Davis - Bina

Sahra Mellesse - Sharonda

Released: January 21, 2011 (Sundance), December 28, 2011 (United States)

Summary: The story of Alike (Adepero Oduye), a 17-year old African–American teenager embracing her identity as a lesbian.

Review

A good movie makes you feel, feel something real. And Pariah makes you feel something real. Most teenagers have issues and a gay teenager’s issues are unlike any other.

Through the exceptional performance of Adepero Oduye you feel the lead character Alike’s (pronounced A-leak-kay) vulnerability and reticence about her life and sexual identity.  While there are very slight deviations, this story is All About Alike. The story adeptly leads you into her world and her interactions with her family. The story doesn’t downplay anything and it doesn’t get into histrionics either. You can feel Alike’s uneasy relationship with her mother and her easy going relationship with her father and sister. The family knows about Alike even if they can’t admit it to themselves or each other.  

The performances in the film are for the most part GREAT. Alike’s family members do a great job from her mother Audrey (Kim Wayans) to her father Arthur (Charles Parnell) her little sister Sharonda (Sahra Mellesse). Also turning in great performances are her best friend Laura (Pernell Walker) and her new friend Bina (Aasha Davis). No surprise, I’ve seen a lot of films and these are simply the BEST performances I’ve seen from ANY film in 2011.

Pariah was a wonderful film with wonderful writing and direction by Dee Rees. I think the ONLY thing keeping it from getting more widespread awards recognition is its scaled down production budget. The ONLY thing.

I tweeted the star of the film as soon as it was over and I meant every word. You can see the tweet below.

CLICK for bigger view

Additional Info

• Pariah did win a lot of awards; it premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Excellence in Cinematography Award. Read about more awards at Wikipedia here

You can read more about the writer/director of Pariah Dee Rees at the articles below

Los Angeles Times

‘Pariah’ director Dee Rees' odd path: bunion pads to Spike Lee

January 5, 2012

Read it here

Huffington Post

Dee Rees' 'Pariah' And Hollywood's Inability To Include Black Americans

January 9, 2012

Read it here

• You can see the star of Pariah Adepero Oduye in a great short film here on the ‘Nother Brother Entertainment Blog right here

Lastly this is the tweet I tweeted to the production company behind Pariah, Northstar Pictures that was retweeeted by them and their distributor Focus Features

CLICK for bigger view

Special SHOUT OUT to Focus Features for getting this film IN THEATERS in my town (Baltimore). I read about a lot of great films that I never get to see until they are released on DVD and I’m SO GLAD I had a chance to see this one before then.

Good Acting Info from Regina King

Regina King

If you’re an actor you should take a listen to this podcast from our friends at Cinema In Noir!

Cinema in Noir is unabashed film talk from three mahogany film mavens. Hosted by Candice Frederick, Rebecca Theodore-Vachon, and Kimberly Renee.

 I found them on the Internet through their podcast and I have had the pleasure of becoming friends with them at the Nother Brother Twitter

 Last week they had their:
Cinema in Noir - Anniversary Special with Regina King 
Sunday, February 12, 2012 
Today, Candice, Rebecca, and Kim celebrate the 1 year anniversary of "Cinema in Noir."The show premiered on Sunday, February 13, 2011. We will be chatting with the actress Regina King 

Regina kicked mad acting knowledge as someone YOU KNOW has been in the industry for a minute You can listen to it below:

 

Check out ALL their podcasts right here

Open Letter from James McBride: Hollywood Forces Black Artists to Be 'Cultural Maids'

Presents a thought provoking piece by writer James McBride

James McBride

Published Wednesday, 25 January 2012, 5:33PM
you can read it here

Red Tails - Review

RED TAILS


Directed by Anthony Hemingway


Produced by Rick McCallum, Charles Floyd Johnson & George Lucas


Cinematography by John Aronson


Released: January 20, 2012 (USA)


Cast

Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Major Emanuel Stance

Terrence Howard as Col. A.J. Bullard

Bryan Cranston as Col. William Mortamus

Nate Parker as Martin "Easy" Julian

David Oyelowo as Joe "Lightning" Little

Tristan Wilds as Ray "Ray Gun" Gannon

Daniela Ruah as Sofia

Ryan Early as Captain Bryce

Method Man as Sticks

Kevin Phillips as Leon "Neon" Edwards

Henry Garrett as Hart

Robert Kazinsky as Chester Barnes

Rick Otto as Flynt

Lee Tergesen as Col. Jack Tomilson

Andre Royo as Chief "Coffee" Coleman

Ne-Yo as Andrew "Smoky" Salem

Elijah Kelley as Samuel "Joker" George

Marcus T. Paulk as David "Deke" Watkins

Leslie Odom Jr. as Walter "Winky" Hall

Michael B. Jordan as Maurice "Bumps" Wilson

Jazmine Sullivan as Deborah "Love Bunny" Gannett

Edwina Finley as CeCe

Stacie Davis as Mae

Aml Ameen as Bag O'Bones

Gerald McRaney as General Luntz

Summary: 1944. As the war in Europe continues to take its toll on Allied forces, the Pentagon brass has no recourse but to consider unorthodox options - including the untried and untested African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program. Just as the young Tuskegee men are on the brink of being shut down and shipped back home, they are given the ultimate chance to show their courage. Against all the odds, with something to prove and everything to lose, these intrepid young airmen take to the skies to fight for their country - and the fate of the free world.-Culture.com

Review

I’m gonna say upfront that this film has its mad corny and melodramatic moments, but I still enjoyed it. Obviously the most care and attention were given to the aerial scenes and no surprise those were done very well.

You don’t have to wait long to see some aerial fights because the film starts off with that as it introduces you to the main characters. As there are almost a dozen characters to follow in the cast (I posted most of them above) not much character development is given to many beyond the two main characters Martin "Easy" Julian played by Nate Parker (The Great Debaters) and Joe "Lightning" Little played by David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of the Apes).

Nate Parker

David Oyelowo

Those two were the heart of the film and gave really great performances. Nate Parker was really good as “Easy” and David Oyelowo stole the show as “Lightning”. Stole it!

Tristan Wilds

Tristan Wilds (pictured right) also did a really good job with his character Ray "Ray Gun" Gannon. The names that are top billed Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Major Emanuel Stance and Terrence Howard as Col. A.J. Bullard are more supporting characters, but did really nice jobs with their scenes too.

Of all the blurbs I read about this film (just blurbs, no reviews) this reaction sums it up "Eh. It was alright if you like Corny Audie Murphy type 50's patriotic war propaganda films." Ed R. @ GetGlue.com

I LOL’d at the reaction because that’s exactly what it seemed like,  a war propaganda film with black folks. You had the standard archetypes the leader, the young kid, the funny guy and the wild one. If you’re expecting a real deep historical film this film ain’t it, but it is entertaining.

I know this doesn’t sound like a resounding endorsement of the film, but I thought it was TERRIFIC and I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t be writing this review if I had not.

Commentary
 We all know the producer George Lucas is a history buff. His first big hit (yes he a big hit before Star Wars) American Graffiti (1973) was a nostalgic piece and he is also the producer behind the nostalgic Indiana Jones films. I think the “Corny Audie Murphy type 50's patriotic war propaganda films” nature of Red Tails is due to him. I mean he bankrolled the film himself which hardly ever happens in Hollywood ESPECIALLY to this extent.  (Lucas, put up $58 million of his own money toward the film after being turned down by all the major movie houses.) When you bankroll a film like this it’s gonna be made how you like it.

Lucas knows HIS target audience better than anyone and this film wasn’t made only for black people. It was made for everyone, young, old, black, white, Hispanic etc. Again he made the film he wanted to make and let’s hope it’s successful. I mean I’ve seen WAAAY more cornier films like Super 8 and Twilight and Twilight is a billion dollar franchise.

Is this film the dictum on the Tuskegee Airmen? No and NO FILM, narrative or documentary, is going to be. It’s a MOVIE, it’s made to entertain not be your only basis for history. Historical films like this are good for just that the entertainment and maybe it’ll spark broader interest where you can go to your local library or in this day and age Google and Wikipedia. Even those sources aren’t the authority, but good places to begin your research.

As far as this film making or breaking future black films in Hollywood—shrug. If it fails it won’t help future films like this, but it’s not the end of anything. As with any other black film if it’s a HIT we may get a couple more in that vein (historical). If it FAILS we’ll keep struggling to get our films made like we always have.

There’s an intriguing piece at the website Shadow & Act called “But Does Anyone REALLY Want To See ‘Red Tails’?” stating how emails and such are going around stating that black folk MUST go see this film out some sort of obligation. My feelings on the matter, and you know I have one, is if you want to see the film—see the film. Not out of any obligation. I really wanted to see Red Tails and I’m glad I did.

If you have any more questions or reaction to the film you can add them in the comments below, post them on our Facebook or Twitter accounts and I will respond. I’ll also be adding more comments, reactions and conversation on those accounts above. 

External Links

Wikipedia page on the Tuskegee_Airmen


Redtails: Honoring the Tuskegee Airmen and taking a break from the usual media buffoonery

A REALLY great piece

Why Hollywood Still Doesn’t Take Black Audiences Seriously (And How You Can Make Them)

The piece I spoke of above “But Does Anyone REALLY Want To See ‘Red Tails’?” with great comments in the comment section. Now that I’ve seen the film I’ll probably be adding my own eventually.You can read it here

Read ALL the Red Tails posts at our sista blog Cool Black Media here

The Help - The Review

THE HELP

Written & Directed by Tate Taylor

Produced by Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan, Brunson Green

Cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt

Released: August 10, 2011 (USA)

Summary: The Help is a 2011 comedy-drama film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name. The film is an ensemble piece about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids during Civil Rights era America in the early 1960s. Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a controversial book from the point of view of the maids (known as the Help), exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families.

Review
Let me start by saying this will be a short review for the majority of what I have to say about the film is labeled as commentary and not really about the film itself.

The Help is a wonderful film. The direction, the acting and yes the story. As stated in the synopsis this is a comedy-drama and as that it succeeded. The film had A LOT of wonderful performances most notably in the leads Emma Stone and Viola Davis. Viola Davis is THE TRUTH as an actor we all know that. I’ve only seen Emma Stone in one other film (Easy A, a film I did not like), but she did a great job in this film.

Stand out supporting characters were played by excellent actors of their generation Sissy Spacek and the indomitable Cicely Tyson. Cicely’s fine portrayal affected me the most. Jessica Chastain also did a great job and I have to mention that Allison Janney was great as usual too. Bryce Dallas Howard as the villain of the piece was too cartoonish and should have been twirling a moustache. Of all the awards buzz about the acting in the film my favorite portrayal came from Octavia Spencer. Octavia Spencer’s performance was sublime.

In the end, The Help was simply one of the BEST films I’ve seen all year.

Commentary
Now I DID NOT want to see The Help. I don’t like those Driving Miss Daisy/Magic Negro types of movies. For the record, in movie circles, the figure known as a "Magic Negro," is a term that dates back to the late 1950s.

“[Filmmakers] give the black character special powers and underlying mysticism, " says Todd Boyd, author of "Am I Black Enough for You? " and co-writer of the 1999 film "The Wood." "This goes all the way back to 'Gone with the Wind.' Hattie McDaniel is the emotional center, but she is just a pawn. Pawns help white people figure out what's going wrong and fix it, like Whoopi Goldberg's psychic in Ghost"

Now I HATE films like that and from what I saw from the trailer and the TV Spots The Help looked like another Magic Negro movie. Here we go with the black maid helping the white character become a better person—PASS.

As a filmmaker though I will watch ANYTHING…probably not Soul Plane, but I digress. When a friend of mine wanted me to go see The Help with her, I said “Sure”. We never got around to it and that was fine with me. In the interim though blogs I frequent about black film eviscerated that’s the word they used—EVISCERATED The Help. I think I’m a smart discerning guy so I said I’ll reserve full judgment.

Well you saw what I thought about the film above and that is the film as a film,  not the story it portrayed, but honestly I didn’t have a problem with the story either. Yes it was a sanitized version of the past, yes it had a simplified message, but I think that was the intent. It was also a “chick flick” which I don’t really dig either. Never saw Steel Magnolias, never want to see Steel Magnolias.

Now I have to share two varying opinions set forth by a friend I made over on the Nother Brother Twitter account (@NotherBrother) Journalist Candice Frederick on her blog REEL TALK.

I want to share two excerpts from her post 2011 ANNUAL FILM ROUNDTABLE (ROUND 1) where she and critic Julian Stark talk about Star Wars…just kidding…of course The Help

First up Journalist Candice Frederick or as I know her "Reel Talker"

“Ahh...The Help. 

It's funny, every time I start thinking about The Help I really start thinking about what could have made it good, interesting. 

For instance, if it's called The Help, why isn't the movie about them? Wouldn't it have been cool if the person writing the movie was a black maid, who probably would have revealed a much more controversial look at the story from the help's point of view? Why is the most interesting thing about the help, or the most realized aspect of their stories, is that they take care of the children of their white employees, or teach them to fry chicken? 

I think a huge missed opportunity is that they didn't really dive into--spoiler alert--the fact that Aibeen's son died, or that Minny was getting abused by her husband. Every aspect of their lives was in direct relation to their white employers or to further develop Skeeter's role in the movie. They promote the "story" of The Help as being revelatory, but revealing that there are clearly a community of unhappy maids/housekeepers who take care of their employers' children is anything but that. And, if the story was so controversial in the neighborhood, the employers would have done a lot worse things than have them fired....The historical part of this historical fiction piece seems....blurred.”

Critic Julian Stark 

“It’s not difficult to glance at the general plot, watch the movie, and think that Emma Stone’s character Skeeter is a magic white lady who makes everything sunshine and rainbows with her spunk and sass, but that’s not how it played for me. Rather, it was the maids that saved themselves. Stone wants to bring their stories to light, and sure, that’s what gets the action going in the first place. But without the firsthand accounts of the maids, there would have been no progress.” 

(You can read the full 2011 ANNUAL FILM ROUNDTABLE (ROUND 1) here)

Now I shared those excerpts because I agree with them both, and that is the reason we’re here.

The whole reason ‘Nother Brother Entertainment is in existence is “To further propagate diverse images through development of films” I’m not going to denigrate someone else for making a good piece, even if I don’t completely agree with the ideology.

If we want to see a difference in Hollywood, we have to make a difference in Hollywood. I’ve reviewed several good independent black films here on the blog (Actually here ) and that is the only way we're going to see true change. I haven’t seen many (any?) films directed by a white person that fully captured the black experience anyway. As much as I might try, I don’t think I can tell a female driven story as effectively as a female director could.

When it comes to The Help even though I thought it was one of the best films of the year doesn’t mean it was one of my favorite films of the year, but I did like it. I really liked it.

Related Links
At our Sista Blog Cool Black Media

• The full article about The Magic Negro here

• The piece I wrote When Viola Davis Played a Serial Killer here

Related articles about The Help most notably from The Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) are posted at the blog for Spike Lee’s company 40 Acres and A Mule here

The Business of Show Business

One of my favorite quotes describing the business of show business is below

Well, it's called "show business", it's not called "show". Even though it's called "show business", ain't no business, no show. You know, they ought to call it "business show", actually. - Denzel Washington

I just read an excellent recent article describing how that business works. Making movies isn't all about creative part of making it, but the financial part of it. As Denzel put it, IT IS a business.

'Twilight' Money: How Summit Plans to Make $1.2B Off 'Breaking Dawn'

By Brent Lang at

Nov 17, 2011 6:59pm EST

EXCLUSIVE


“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1” is on its way to a massive opening at midnight, but as confidential documents obtained by TheWrap demonstrate, the movie’s backers have lofty expectations for equally gargantuan profits.

Experts estimate that “Breaking Dawn” will have to take in about $650 million at the worldwide box office to reach the $228 million in profit that Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the franchise, projected in an investor prospectus obtained by TheWrap.

The document, used to raise $750 million last spring, projected that the final two films in the franchise would generate more than $1.2 billion in revenues and $447 million in profits for the studio and its investors.

That number does not appear to be out of reach. The last two "Twilight" movies grossed roughly $700 million each in worldwide box office, and the latest installment is expected to take in up to $140 million domestically this weekend.

The studio won’t be alone in raking in cash. The three stars of the series -- Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner -- will reportedly get $25 million each for performing in the last two "Twilight" films against 7.5 percent of the theatrical gross. (Summit declined to confirm or deny this information.)

Supporting cast members such as Kellan Lutz and Nikki Reed are getting $1.25 million a piece to return to the last two films, according to an individual with knowledge of their deals.

Summit anticipates that the first film in the two-part finale to the “Twilight Saga” will bring in $611 million in first-cycle revenue and $228 million in profits.

"First cycle" includes theatrical, paid and broadcast television, video on demand, merchandising, and disc sales through the 10th anniversary of the film’s release in theaters.

The capital raised last spring was used to finance the studio’s production slate, pay down debt, and to reward its original investors and key executives with a $200 million dividend.

Summit declined to comment for this article.

Whatever the fate of the studio beyond the "Twilight" series, Summit is poised to see a huge near-term windfall in a declining movie-going market from one of the few box-office events of the year.

Barring a plague of locusts, “Breaking Dawn -- Part 1” is on track to bank between $125 to $140 million this weekend domestically. It will also rake in big bucks in more than 50 foreign markets, including France, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Summit licenses the foreign rights to its film slate, meaning it will share “Breaking Dawn”s’ monster overseas profits -- but only after its foreign partners recoup all of their costs plus interest.

The prospectus filed in March explains that as part of Summit’s strategy, the studio has four long-term output agreements with E1, Nordisk, SND and Tele-Munchen, which contribute on average 31.5 percent of the production cost for each film on the studio’s slate.

Each partner pays a minimum guarantee for the film rights, and once those and other costs such as distribution fees are recouped, the remainder of the profits are divided.

The documents do not outline the split, but according to a prominent film financier, the industry standard is for the studio and the partner to divide profits evenly.

“Nobody gives away anything for free,” Hal Vogel of Vogel Capital Management and the author of “Entertainment Industry Economics: A Guide for Financial Analysis,” told TheWrap. “The advantage of a pre-sale is that you don’t get whacked if the film is a dud, but when you have a hit it limits the upside.”

Until the box office closes Monday, it will not be clear if the studio is on track to meet Summit's bullish projections.

What is evident is that the still relatively economical blockbusters have gotten progressively more expensive as the series has continued.

“Breaking Dawn -- Part 1” cost the studio $127.5 million and “Part 2” will cost $136.2 million. In contrast, the first three films were budgeted at a reported $37 million for “Twilight,” $50 million for “New Moon,” and $68 million for “Eclipse.”

The studio plans to spend a total of $100 million on marketing the two final films in the series.

Summit says that after-tax rebates, “Breaking Dawn -- Part 1” cost $110 million.

Thanks to Summit’s foreign sales deals, the studio’s exposure on the films is minimal.

“Their exposure is pretty small relatively speaking, but it’s bigger by a factor of almost four from the first films,” Vogel told TheWrap. “The revenues are flat, and even though they will still make a nice profit, their profits are going down.”

November 27, 2011
A great addendum to this article, talking more about "the business"
Lions Gate Said to Be in Merger Talks With ‘Twilight’ Film Producer Summit
Read it here

Jay-Z and Kanye West Get Guerilla Style 'in the Wild'

While technically a music video, this is MORE a short film and an excellently done one at that, hence being posted here at the NBE blog. This thought provoking short film was done by The High 5 Collective. You can read more about them after the video.

The High 5 Collective didn't waste any time in adding Watch the Throne to their repertoire. The collective, who is at the top of the field when it comes to guerrilla music video making, added their twisted touch to the already ominous Jay-Z/Kanye West track, "No Church in the Wild." The collective has done a video for Frank Ocean, the guest vocalist on "No Church in the Wild" who steals the show. -Huffington Post

The High 5 Collective one sentence description of themselves is "We make art for artists that inspire us." Word! I can dig that! You can check them out here

You can read more about Frank Ocean at here

HUGE THANKS to a personal friend of mine, actor Brandan Tate for giving me a heads up about this excellent video/film. You can check out Brandan's IMDb page here