TRASH IN MY EYE No. 30 of 2024 (No. 1974) by Leroy Douresseaux
They Cloned Tyrone (2023)
Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPA – R for pervasive language, violence, some sexual material and drug use
DIRECTOR: Juel Taylor
WRITERS: Tony Rettenmaier and Juel Taylor
PRODUCERS: Jamie Foxx, Charles D. King, Stephen “Dr.” Love, Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor, and Datari Turner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ken Seng (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Saira Haider
COMPOSERS: Pierre Charles and Desmond Murray
SCI-FI/COMEDY/DRAMA and MYSTERY/THRILLER
Starring: John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, David Alan Grier, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Tamberla Perry, Eric B. Robinson Jr., Trayce Malachi, Leon Lamar, Joshua Mikel, and Keifer Sutherland and Jamie Foxx
They Cloned Tyrone is a 2023 American science fiction comedy-drama and mystery-thriller from director Juel Taylor. After receiving a limited theatrical release, the film began streaming on Netflix on July 21, 2023 as a “Netflix Original.” The film focuses on a drug dealer, a pimp, and sex worker, who must uncover a bizarre mystery that seems to originate from an underground facility beneath their predominantly Black neighborhood.
They Cloned Tyrone focuses on Fontaine (John Boyega), a drug dealer living and slanging in the predominantly African-American, poverty-stricken, and crime ridden suburban neighborhood called “the Glen.” One night, Fontaine arrives at the hotel hideaway of the pimp, Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), to get money owed to him. Slick freaks out when he sees Fontaine, who apparently had visited him the previous night just before being gunned down by Isaac (Eric B. Robinson Jr.), a rival drug dealer.
Fontaine does not remember the previous night's events, so Slick takes him to one of his ho's, Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), in order to confirm his claims of Fontaine's death. Yo-Yo does just that, but later, a series of eerie events thrusts the three onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy. But can a drug dealer, a pimp, and a ho really solve a mind-bending mystery that threatens not only their own neighborhood, but Black neighborhoods everywhere?
They Cloned Tyrone got lost in the glare of two of 2023's mega-box office hits, the movies Barbie and Oppenheimer. This month – specifically July 14th – is the one year anniversary of its limited theatrical release. I had been putting off seeing They Cloned Tyrone, so I thought now was a good time to do so.
In They Cloned Tyrone, co-writer-director Juel Taylor and co-writer Tony Rettenmaier make many references to American popular storytelling via the characters dialogue. However, the film's plot and narrative reference numerous previous Black speculative and genre films. They Cloned Tyrone's conspiracy around consumer products recalls the blaxploitation homage and spoof films, Undercover Brother (2002) and Black Dynamite (2009). Director Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017) and Us (2019) are spectral presences in They Cloned Tyrone's narrative, and I also see a passing resemblance to elements from Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You (2018). The essences of two landmark 1971 films, A Clockwork Orange and Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss Song, as well as that of the 1988 cult classic, They Live, are in pungent evidence here.
Still, They Cloned Tyrone is an original. It is a gleeful comedy and satire of America. It also manages to be a bolder and more imaginative science fiction film than the pew-pew-pew, space opera epics that pass for modern sci-fi cinematic storytelling. Taylor and Rettenmaier are correct. The Founding Father's of the United States of America came up with some high ideals, but then, died and left us with the messy reality of a fractured disunited state of affairs. These two writers are among the few to plainly state via metaphor and allegory that for too long, Black people have carried the weight of fixing that mess and trying to make the experiment called America an actual thing.
The film has great production values all around, from cinematography and editing to art direction, costume design, and score. You might, dear readers, miss that because They Cloned Tyrone is such an engaging, crazy, lovable story driven by powerhouse performances. John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, and Teyonah Parris give killer performances, and if they were nepo babies, at least one of them (likely Foxx) would have received Oscar nominations for his or her performance here. Parris clearly has leading lady chops, which she wields in this film to make herself a co-lead rather than a supporting player. Foxx balances pathos and absurdity in making Slick Charles a wonderfully engaging and exceedingly likable character.
But John Boyega: let's be honest. His career in America has not exploded like that of his Star Wars sequel trilogy co-star, Adam Driver... and we know why. Boyega is every bit as good as everything that passes for the young Hollywood's A-list. Boyega disappears inside Fontaine and makes him not so much a tragic figure or even criminal for that matter. Fontaine's is the hero's journey even if he is not fair of hair and skin. Boyega has moments here that are most poignant and dramatic and that only an actor both talented and skilled can pull off.
Boyega makes They Cloned Tyrone more than satire, blaxploitation, horror, science fiction, and absurdist comedy. Boyega gives the film dramatic heft and weight. They Cloned Tyrone is memorable and is also one of 2023's very best films because John Boyega is one of a kind.
10 of 10
Monday, July 15, 2024
NOTES:
2024 NAACP Image Awards: 9 nominations: “Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (John Boyega), “Outstanding Breakthrough Creative-Motion Picture” (Juel Taylor), “Cinematography in a Motion Picture” (Ken Seng), “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Jamie Foxx), “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture” (Juel Taylor), “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture” (Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier), and “Outstanding Stunt Ensemble-Television or Film”
2024 Black Reel Awards: 8 nominations: “Outstanding Lead Performance” (John Boyega), “Outstanding Supporting Performance” (Jamie Foxx), “Outstanding Screenplay” (Tony Rettenmaier and Juel Taylor), “Outstanding Ensemble” (Kim Coleman), “Outstanding Emerging Director” (Juel Taylor), “Outstanding Score” (Desmond Murray and Pierre Charles), “Outstanding Costume Design” (Francine Jamison-Tanchuck), and “Outstanding Editing” (Saira Haider)
The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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