I Will Follow

This movie has a pretty familiar theme. A woman has to deal with the passing of an ancestor, and there are issues with other members of the family. Some minor things to commend it are an all African-American cast, including some supporting characters whom the main character encounters in her time of grief

In flashbacks, we see May (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) spending time with her aunt (Beverly Todd), who has cancer, living with her in her last year of life. In the present, May is emptying out her now-deceased aunt’s house in preparation to move out. She is expecting her aunt’s daughter/her cousin, Fran (Michole Briana White), to come by to help clean up as well as pick out any of her mother’s things she doesn’t want to go to Goodwill. When Fran arrives, she brings along her teen son and two younger kids, then starts making excuses of having to take care of the kids, leaving May alone to do the work. The teen son, Raven, stays behind and helps May, and she tells him stories of his grandmother. It seems the grandmother was a noted session musician in the disco era, who--while she was well known in the industry--didn’t have widely known personal success in the public eye. May is also a professional makeup artist who put aside her career to care for her aunt, so they shared an artistic side.

When Fran returns, she shows her resentment and jealousy, blaming May for “coercing” her aunt to make some difficult choices about her life. The women argue about quality of life and the aunt/mother choosing her own lifepath. Fran leaves without changing her attitude, but throughout the story May has short encounters with other people—a neighbor who didn’t know the aunt well offers some kind words; the man who drives the moving van leaves after an altercation but then returns in sympathy; May talks to some old boyfriends; a cable tv installer comes to remove the satellite dish.

Sparkle (2012)

This remake of Sparkle is going to go down in history as being the last film which co-starred Whitney Houston. It follows the same general plotline as the original, keeping to its 1960s/70s timeline, with a story about sisters growing up as they find fame as a singing group.

There are three sisters--Sister (Carmen Ejogo) the eldest (real name Tammy) who had a failed affair and had to return home; Sparkle (Jordin Sparks), the middle sibling who writes songs but has little ambition; and Dee (Dorothy) who is expected to go to college and become a doctor, something pretty unheard of for a black woman living in this era--the late 1960s and Detroit. Sparkle convinces Sister to perform one of her songs at a club because she is not the performing type, or so she says. They are noticed by two men--Stix, a young manager, and Levi, who eyes the sexy Sister.

Olympic Dreams--Invictus

Okay, this movie isn't about a team going to the Olympics, but I thought I'd check out some sports related films in the lead-up to the London Olympics Summer Games this year.

Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring a couple of big hitter stars in the lead roles, this story tells about a South African rugby team that was used as a public relations tool to help unite the country after the divisive violence of apartheid.

Morgan Freeman plays Nelson Mandela, struggling to bring his citizens together, who still insist on personally dividing themselves.  Old staff who worked for de Klerk depart en masse when Mandela enters into office.  Members of his black security team grudgingly make room for white security men.  Now at his wit's end on what to do, he decides to take a back door approach.

The underdog rugby team, the Springboks led by Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), have little chance of going to the 1995 World Cup, until Mandela one day invites Francois to tea. They actually don't discuss much rugby, but Francois comes away with a feeling that Mandela thinks they can bring the nation together through its support of the team.  The Springboks do some unorthodox things like going to black ghettos to teach kids the sport (the team is all white except for the lone black who gets much love from the kids).

Meanwhile, Mandela's closest staff think he is spending too much time on rugby and not enough on his "real" job, thus not understanding his strategy. They warn him he will be accused of going solo when he should rely on his cabinet.

Free event: Something the Lord Made

Taking place in an earlier generation where civil rights for African Americans was not yet established, this story tells of the influence of an intelligent black medical technician on the white doctor whome he worked for. Mos Def stars at the lab technician who helped the white doctor, played by Alan Rickman, on a heart technique for ailing babies.

Something the Lord Made
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
400 S. State Street, Chicago

The Least Among You

The Least Among You is abouta black theological student during the Watts Riot era, based on a real person. Richard Kelly (Cedric Sanders) wants social change and is arrested during the riots, and in a plea bargain he enrolls in a seminary college. He just wants to finish the semester and exit but finds that he has the power to help change thinking in the college, which, despite being a religious organization, is just as bigoted as the people outside it.

Free event: The Interrupters

If you missed seeing The Interrupters the few times it has played in the Chicago area, here is another opportunity.

The Interrupters (by Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams, and Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here) tells the story of three “violence interrupters” from the Ceasefire organization in Chicago, who now protect their communities from the violence that they too have lived through.  They seek to open dialogues with gang members and people fallen on hard times, to prevent violence before it happens.  Not every relationship is a success story of course, and every gain is taken in baby steps.  The film got dissed by the Oscars but I highly recommend it.


The Interrupters
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
6:30 p.m.
Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Ave.

Red Tails

George Lucas produced this movie about the Tuskegee airmen, a black pilot squadron in WW2.   The story begins in the middle of the airmen's struggle to get respect.  The squadron has already been formed and spend their time on unchallenging assignments.  They want to be in the air and fight the Jerries, for heaven's sake!


The main pilot characters (played by Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Method Man and others) are the typical types--one falls for a local girl and is a hot dog ace, one cannot handle the stress and drinks, one is medically unfit but pressures his friends to let him fly, one is a newcomer trying to gain respect. None of their homelife or backstory is referred to, so for the audience only the timeframe of the movie is what defines them for us.  The two senior leaders are played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Terrence Howard.  The Major (Gooding) tries to keep the men in line at the base, and smokes a pipe a la MacArthur (he was the one with the pipe, wasn't he)? Or more correctly, he always has a pipe in his mouth but I never see him smoking it.  Terrence Howard as the Colonel had a bit better role as he got to emote more as the one who has to battle Washington to give them respect.

Free Event: Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock

The Chicago Cultural Center’s Claudia Cassidy Theatre is the site for a free screening. The documentary profiles Daisy Bates, who was a journalist involved with the desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957 (a tv film starred Joanne Woodward as an assistant principal at the school), as well as a human rights activist.  It also airs on PBS' Independent Lens later this season.

Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock
Saturday, January 21, 2012
2:00 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theatre
78 E. Washington, Chicago

CIFF 2011: Cooley High

I remember, I think, watching Cooley High on tv many years ago. The film screened as part of the Black Perspective component of CIFF 2011, with the writer, the producer and some actors staying for a Q&A. They still had some vivid memories about filming here, working with the actors and crew, and the storyline.

The story takes place in the 60s in Chicago, and is filmed on location. Its central character is Leroy "Preach" Jackson (played by Glynn Turman), a highschooler who has dreams of being a writer or a poet. Being a black teen from a housing project, this aspiration is unusual, unsupported and unfulfilled. He hangs out with his best friend Richard "Cochise" Morris (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), who, like Preach, doesn't get a lot of adult guidance. They spend their days cutting from school, and nights partying, flirting, or drinking.

CIFF 2010--A Screaming Man

The lead actor in A Screaming Man won the "best actor" award at the Fest last year, and the film won "best screenplay" as well.  It comes from France, Belgium and Chad.

Aging pool attendant Adam, known as the Champ for his previous swimming awards, has to deal with the backdrop of war and his age.

Free event: The Interrupters

Free film event tonight--The Interrupters.

The Interrupters (by Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams, and Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here) tells the story of three “violence interrupters” in Chicago who now protect their communities from the violence that they once employed. Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz will be joined by Tio Hardiman, director of Ceasefire Illinois and Ricardo (COBE) Williams, national community coordinator with Ceasefire, for a panel discussion following the film screening.

Please RSVP here and I hope to hear some good post-screening discussion.

The Help

I am not enamored of movies based on books, especially if I know that fact beforehand. The nature of movies is that they allow so much less time to depict the story that a lot of the book it is based on is not used. It is rare that a film measures up to or retains the sensibilities of the book it is based on. Also, films based on books are often of the top ten variety and that is not my normal reading material.

The Help is based on a book that I haven’t read. If you don’t already know what the topic of The Help is, in the mid-century Southern U.S., a young white woman Eugenia aka Skeeter (Emma Stone) is on her way to a “journalism” job—taking over a household cleaning advice column in the local paper. Among her circle of friends, Skeeter is the only one that is unmarried, despite her mother’s (Alison Janney) and friends’ attempts to set her up. Her friends include two married mothers, Elizabeth with two young children, and Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard), the queen bee of their social circle. There is an outcast among them, Celia (Jessica Chastain), a sexpot the women believe stole Hilly’s lover and subsequently married him.