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.


The plot itself is nothing new, but as I noted, the minor variations on the theme and supporting characters helped elevate this film from a run-of-the-mill family drama. We see how Fran’s view is valid and legitimate, but she is not open to discussion with May nor seeing May’s side of things, nor even being appreciative of May caring for her mother at the last days of her life. You can see Fran’s attitude is from a lifetime of resentment rather than just cropped up during the last few years,and even perhaps of fear and inadequacy. If Fran was made a little more sympathetic, instead of just having the story sympathizing with May and showing it from her grieving point of view, it would have been a more well-rounded story.

The parts regarding the old boyfriends, one whom was played by Blair Underwood shown only on the phone, was not really necessary and didn’t add anything to define the relationship between May and her aunt or between May and Fran. I liked the short relationships May had with the moving guy, the nephew and the cable installer, each allowed May to share memories and feelings about her aunt.