About once a year, I get an email from Paramount Pictures announcing a casting call for a new movie. Back in 2009, I got one when Paramount was looking to cast the "Mattie Ross" character in the Coen Bros.' True Grit remake, a role that eventually went to now-Oscar-nominated Hailee Steinfeld. At the time, the True Grit casting call said that people interested in auditioning for Mattie, "must be able to portray Caucasian." I still laugh at that line.
Anyway, here is the casting call for the upcoming film, "Fun Size" (Must be able to portay Asiatic - HeeHee):
SEEKING LEADS FOR A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
Seeking to cast the following for leading roles in the new Paramount Feature Film “FUN SIZE”.
No previous acting experience is necessary, but must have great energy and a wonderful sense of humor.
ALBERT: 8 years old, with chubby cheeks. Albert is undeniably a strange but intriguing little boy, combining childlike ways (like love of anything sugar) with unnerving adult habits (he’s unbeatable on the videogame “Aggravated Assault,” precocious, and is unflappable – even ingenious – in a crisis). He does not speak until the end of the movie. (LEAD)
STUART: 16 years old. Born and raised in the United States. Stuart is of Asian, East Indian or Middle Eastern descent. Slight in build, Stuart is a kid who talks twice his size. Obsessed with sci-fi and comic books, he is the co-captain of the debate team with his best friend, Roosevelt. (LEAD)
To audition for a role please visit: www.paramount.com/casting/funsize
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Review: Robert Altman Signs off with Sweet "A Prairie Home Companion" (Happy B'day, Robert Altman)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 157 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux
A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some risqué humor
DIRECTOR: Robert Altman
WRITERS: Garrison Keillor, from a story by Ken LaZebnik and Garrison Keillor (based upon the radio program “A Prairie Home Companion” created by Garrison Keillor)
PRODUCERS: Robert Altman, Wren Arthur, Joshua Astrachan, Tony Judge, and David Levy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Lachman
EDITOR: Jacob Craycroft
COMEDY/DRAMA/MUSIC
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Marylouise Burke, L.Q. Jones, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, and Jearlyn Steele.
Director Robert Altman’s new film, A Prairie Home Companion, is a fictionalized version of Garrison Keillor’s long running, public-radio variety show, also titled "A Prairie Home Companion." In this film, A Prairie Home Companion isn’t the fabled national phenomenon that it has been for decades (since its first broadcast on July 6, 1974), but is rather an obscure local program performed at a small local venue, the Fitzgerald Theatre (where the real Prairie Home Companion is performed), and broadcast onto a single Minnesota radio station, WLT. The film opens on what is to be the show’s final performance after the better part of four decades, as the Fitzgerald has been bought by a Texas conglomerate that is going to demolish the theatre to build a parking lot.
There is much backstage drama – the death of a long time Prairie Home performer; a mysterious woman (Virginia Madsen) who seems to bring death with her stalks the halls and stage; and the theatre security, Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), is rather self-absorbed. However, the focus is on the stage and the performers. There is the whimsical, sad sack maestro, GK (Garrison Keillor), who seems to be an undertaker as much as he is the master of ceremonies and host. His stars include the country-singing Johnson sisters, Yolanda (Meryl Streep) and Rhonda (Lily Tomlin), and the cowboy duo, the Old Trailhands, Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly), and more. Still, the Prairie Home performers and crew await the arrival of the Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones), who will signal the end of both the show and the showplace.
Although Altman works from Garrison Keillor’s script and this concept is Keillor’s, Altman makes the film his own by employing the techniques that have made him a filmmaking legend: the improvisational chatter and babble, the characters overlapping dialogue, and the wandering, zooming cameral – sometimes orbital, sometimes a stationary eye, but always capturing the story that Altman is weaving.
The performances, although good, are mostly small, but the actors make the most of their moments. Each character is quirky, and each actor gives that part an idiosyncratic turn that makes this entire film seem special. In fact, the cast is in perfect harmony, and one can watch the actors building up to this synchronization as the characters continually interact with one another. In the end, the make Prairie Home’s final moments as a variety show an example of simple, heartwarming, old-fashioned harmony. Clearly the actors believe in their baggy and shelf-worn characters. It’s a testament to their faith in Altman and perhaps to a lesser extent Keillor’s creation.
Ultimately, A Prairie Home Companion is an unusual film, simple and sometimes profound. It’s a fantasy about a kind of public performance that has nothing to do with big event corporate entertainment or prepackaged amusements put together by media conglomerates, which have all the soul one would expect from plastic. A Prairie Home Companion begs you to watch such stellar talent create an idealized version of something from another time – variety radio programs – and watch them do it with such conviction that you don’t want to leave your strange new friends. You’re worried that someone might hurt them and stop what they do – you care.
7 of 10
B+
Saturday, July 22, 2006
A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some risqué humor
DIRECTOR: Robert Altman
WRITERS: Garrison Keillor, from a story by Ken LaZebnik and Garrison Keillor (based upon the radio program “A Prairie Home Companion” created by Garrison Keillor)
PRODUCERS: Robert Altman, Wren Arthur, Joshua Astrachan, Tony Judge, and David Levy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Lachman
EDITOR: Jacob Craycroft
COMEDY/DRAMA/MUSIC
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Marylouise Burke, L.Q. Jones, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, and Jearlyn Steele.
Director Robert Altman’s new film, A Prairie Home Companion, is a fictionalized version of Garrison Keillor’s long running, public-radio variety show, also titled "A Prairie Home Companion." In this film, A Prairie Home Companion isn’t the fabled national phenomenon that it has been for decades (since its first broadcast on July 6, 1974), but is rather an obscure local program performed at a small local venue, the Fitzgerald Theatre (where the real Prairie Home Companion is performed), and broadcast onto a single Minnesota radio station, WLT. The film opens on what is to be the show’s final performance after the better part of four decades, as the Fitzgerald has been bought by a Texas conglomerate that is going to demolish the theatre to build a parking lot.
There is much backstage drama – the death of a long time Prairie Home performer; a mysterious woman (Virginia Madsen) who seems to bring death with her stalks the halls and stage; and the theatre security, Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), is rather self-absorbed. However, the focus is on the stage and the performers. There is the whimsical, sad sack maestro, GK (Garrison Keillor), who seems to be an undertaker as much as he is the master of ceremonies and host. His stars include the country-singing Johnson sisters, Yolanda (Meryl Streep) and Rhonda (Lily Tomlin), and the cowboy duo, the Old Trailhands, Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly), and more. Still, the Prairie Home performers and crew await the arrival of the Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones), who will signal the end of both the show and the showplace.
Although Altman works from Garrison Keillor’s script and this concept is Keillor’s, Altman makes the film his own by employing the techniques that have made him a filmmaking legend: the improvisational chatter and babble, the characters overlapping dialogue, and the wandering, zooming cameral – sometimes orbital, sometimes a stationary eye, but always capturing the story that Altman is weaving.
The performances, although good, are mostly small, but the actors make the most of their moments. Each character is quirky, and each actor gives that part an idiosyncratic turn that makes this entire film seem special. In fact, the cast is in perfect harmony, and one can watch the actors building up to this synchronization as the characters continually interact with one another. In the end, the make Prairie Home’s final moments as a variety show an example of simple, heartwarming, old-fashioned harmony. Clearly the actors believe in their baggy and shelf-worn characters. It’s a testament to their faith in Altman and perhaps to a lesser extent Keillor’s creation.
Ultimately, A Prairie Home Companion is an unusual film, simple and sometimes profound. It’s a fantasy about a kind of public performance that has nothing to do with big event corporate entertainment or prepackaged amusements put together by media conglomerates, which have all the soul one would expect from plastic. A Prairie Home Companion begs you to watch such stellar talent create an idealized version of something from another time – variety radio programs – and watch them do it with such conviction that you don’t want to leave your strange new friends. You’re worried that someone might hurt them and stop what they do – you care.
7 of 10
B+
Saturday, July 22, 2006
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Review: "In the Heat of the Night" Retains its Heat (Happy B'day, Sidney Poitier)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 142 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Norman Jewison
WRITER: Stirling Silliphant (based on the novel by John Ball)
PRODUCER: Walter Mirisch
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Haskell Wexler (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Hal Ashby
COMPOSER: Quincy Jones
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/CRIME//MYSTERY
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, William Schallert, Beah Richards, Matt Clark, and Quentin Dean
The winner of five Academy Awards (out of seven nominations) including an Oscar® for “Best Picture” and another for Rod Steiger as “Best Actor,” director Norman Jewison’s film, In the Heat of the Night, remains a potent examination of racism, prejudice, and bigotry nearly four decades after its release. Although Oscar® ignored his performance, Sidney Poitier created one of his signature roles in this film. His Virgil Tibbs is one of the most important and influential Black characters in film history and set a standard for the Black leading man portraying strong, resolute characters.
Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) is in the small and sleepy town of Sparta, Mississippi waiting at a train station for a connecting train. After getting harassed and detained by Sam Woods (Warren Oates), a racist cop, Tibbs reveals to Sparta Police Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) that he is a homicide detective from Philadelphia. Tibbs presence coincides with a grisly murder, and via a set of convenient circumstances, Tibbs stays in town to assist in finding the murderer. During the course of the investigation, Tibbs and Gillespie rub each other the wrong way. Tibbs, however, is determined to solve the case, remaining in the investigation in spite of Gillespie numerous demands that Tibbs leave Sparta, and Gillespie doggedly follows Tibbs every step protecting him from Sparta’s more violent and bigoted citizens determined to kill Tibbs the uppity nigger.
The performances of course are all good, some of them great. Poitier, an actor with a highly mannered style, is perfect in his portrayal of Virgil Tibbs, giving him a proud air necessary for a highly skilled black man who must work with and prove himself to lesser talented white men, who nurse assorted insecurities and skin color hatreds. Poitier’s performance is a delicate high wire act that is occasionally overstated, but is never more so direct and appropriate than when Tibbs returns a slap to the face of a white character. Steiger is also very good. He strains at the seams to unleash the fury in him, kept behind a low key façade, but Stirling Silliphant’s Oscar®-winning script doesn’t give him enough room to really play.
In addition to the film’s social implications, it is flat out a great film. Norman Jewison does a fine job balancing social commentary and displays of ethnic tensions with the necessities of genre conventions, in this case, the characteristics of crime fiction. In the Heat of the Night is also an intriguing mystery story that keeps you guessing to the end right along with Tibbs – whodunit?
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
1968 Academy Awards: 5 wins: “Best Picture” (Walter Mirisch), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Rod Steiger), “Best Film Editing” (Hal Ashby), “Best Sound” (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Stirling Silliphant ); 2 nominations: “Best Director” (Norman Jewison) and “Best Effects, Sound Effects” (James Richard)
1968 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Foreign Actor” (Rod Steiger) and “UN Award” (Norman Jewison); 2 nominations: “Best Film from any Source” (Norman Jewison) and “Best Foreign Actor” (Sidney Poitier)
1968 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama” (Rod Steiger), and “Best Screenplay” (Stirling Silliphant); 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama” (Sidney Poitier), “Best Motion Picture Director” (Norman Jewison), “Best Supporting Actress” (Lee Grant), and “Best Supporting Actress” (Quentin Dean)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Norman Jewison
WRITER: Stirling Silliphant (based on the novel by John Ball)
PRODUCER: Walter Mirisch
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Haskell Wexler (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Hal Ashby
COMPOSER: Quincy Jones
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/CRIME//MYSTERY
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, William Schallert, Beah Richards, Matt Clark, and Quentin Dean
The winner of five Academy Awards (out of seven nominations) including an Oscar® for “Best Picture” and another for Rod Steiger as “Best Actor,” director Norman Jewison’s film, In the Heat of the Night, remains a potent examination of racism, prejudice, and bigotry nearly four decades after its release. Although Oscar® ignored his performance, Sidney Poitier created one of his signature roles in this film. His Virgil Tibbs is one of the most important and influential Black characters in film history and set a standard for the Black leading man portraying strong, resolute characters.
Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) is in the small and sleepy town of Sparta, Mississippi waiting at a train station for a connecting train. After getting harassed and detained by Sam Woods (Warren Oates), a racist cop, Tibbs reveals to Sparta Police Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) that he is a homicide detective from Philadelphia. Tibbs presence coincides with a grisly murder, and via a set of convenient circumstances, Tibbs stays in town to assist in finding the murderer. During the course of the investigation, Tibbs and Gillespie rub each other the wrong way. Tibbs, however, is determined to solve the case, remaining in the investigation in spite of Gillespie numerous demands that Tibbs leave Sparta, and Gillespie doggedly follows Tibbs every step protecting him from Sparta’s more violent and bigoted citizens determined to kill Tibbs the uppity nigger.
The performances of course are all good, some of them great. Poitier, an actor with a highly mannered style, is perfect in his portrayal of Virgil Tibbs, giving him a proud air necessary for a highly skilled black man who must work with and prove himself to lesser talented white men, who nurse assorted insecurities and skin color hatreds. Poitier’s performance is a delicate high wire act that is occasionally overstated, but is never more so direct and appropriate than when Tibbs returns a slap to the face of a white character. Steiger is also very good. He strains at the seams to unleash the fury in him, kept behind a low key façade, but Stirling Silliphant’s Oscar®-winning script doesn’t give him enough room to really play.
In addition to the film’s social implications, it is flat out a great film. Norman Jewison does a fine job balancing social commentary and displays of ethnic tensions with the necessities of genre conventions, in this case, the characteristics of crime fiction. In the Heat of the Night is also an intriguing mystery story that keeps you guessing to the end right along with Tibbs – whodunit?
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
1968 Academy Awards: 5 wins: “Best Picture” (Walter Mirisch), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Rod Steiger), “Best Film Editing” (Hal Ashby), “Best Sound” (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Stirling Silliphant ); 2 nominations: “Best Director” (Norman Jewison) and “Best Effects, Sound Effects” (James Richard)
1968 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Foreign Actor” (Rod Steiger) and “UN Award” (Norman Jewison); 2 nominations: “Best Film from any Source” (Norman Jewison) and “Best Foreign Actor” (Sidney Poitier)
1968 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama” (Rod Steiger), and “Best Screenplay” (Stirling Silliphant); 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama” (Sidney Poitier), “Best Motion Picture Director” (Norman Jewison), “Best Supporting Actress” (Lee Grant), and “Best Supporting Actress” (Quentin Dean)
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Saturday, February 19, 2011
"Neuro: Supernatural Detective" Anime Free at VIZ Anime and Hulu
MEET A DEMON THAT “EATS” RIDDLES IN THE FANTASY MYSTERY ANIME SERIES NEURO: SUPERNATURAL DETECTIVE
New Series Launches on VIZAnime.com and Hulu
VIZ Media brings an exciting new animated series to North American audiences with the launch of NEURO: SUPERNATURAL DETECTIVE on Friday, February 18th on VIZAnime.com (http://www.vizanime.com/), the company’s own premier website for free anime, as well as the streaming content provider HULU (http://www.hulu.com/).
The new series (rated ‘M’ for Mature) will debut with the first five subtitled episodes available, with new installments available weekly.
In NEURO: SUPERNATURAL DETECTIVE, Neuro Nogami is a demon that feeds on criminal mysteries and riddles in the human world. In order to protect his identity, he forms a partnership with Yako, an incisive 16-year-old high school girl. This unlikely crime-solving duo devours one mystery after another in search of the ultimate appetizing mystery!
NEURO: SUPERNATURAL DETECTIVE is based on a popular manga (graphic novel) series created by Yosei Matsui that sold over 3 million copies in Japan and is produced by the famed animation studio, MADHOUSE.
For more information on NEURO: SUPERNATURAL DETECTIVE and other animated titles from VIZ Media please visit http://www.vizanime.com/.
Review: Woody Allen's "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" is Not an Exciting Encounter
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Woody Allen
PRODUCERS: Letty Aronson, Jaume Roures, and Stephen Tenenbaum
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Vilmos Zsigmond
EDITOR: Alisa Lepselter
COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Pauline Collins, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Ewen Bremner, and Zak Orth (narrator)
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is the fourth London-set film from famed director Woody Allen. The film follows a pair of married couples in some state of marital dissolution.
After her husband, Alfie Shepridge (Anthony Hopkins), divorces her, Helena Shepridge (Gemma Jones) consults Cristal (Pauline Collins), a psychic, to learn what fate has in store for her. Alfie, in the midst of an old man’s version of a midlife crisis, is engaged to a prostitute named Charmaine Foxx (Lucy Punch). Helena and Alfie’s daughter, Sally Channing (Naomi Watts), and her husband, Roy Channing (Josh Brolin), are having their own marital problems. Sally is smitten with Greg Clemente (Antonio Banderas), the owner of the art gallery where she works. Roy, a struggling writer, falls in love with Dia (Freida Pinto), a grad student who is already engaged to be married. Meanwhile, Helena waits for the tall, dark stranger Cristal predicted would come into her life.
When one considers the films Woody Allen made in the 1970s, 80s, and even into the 90s, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, like most of Allen’s films from the last decade, does not measure up. Parts of this film are dull and uninspired, but some of it is also shocking and sincere in its depiction of how a person’s dissatisfaction with his or her life can manifest itself.
I think credit should go to the cast who seem to not only make the best of this middling material, but in some cases, make it better. Gemma Jones and Anthony Hopkins are the best examples of that in this film. I’m not familiar with Jones, but I am with Hopkins. As much as I always expect him to be good, Hopkins surprises me with his fantastic turn as the vain, confused, and ultimately tragic Alfie. Hopkins brings complexity to a character that needs complexity.
The themes of this film seem to be vanity and discontent, and the characters yearn for material things while ignoring how bankrupt they are spiritually. However, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger doesn’t seem to yearn for anything, being largely philosophically and spiritually empty. This movie doesn’t even have an ending so much as the story just seems to fade away.
I have to be honest. If anyone else other than Woody Allen pulled what he does with this movie, I would be intolerant. So if you are a fan of Allen or of at least one of the cast members, you may want to meet this movie. Otherwise, you will not want to meet You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.
5 of 10
C+
Saturday, February 19, 2011
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Woody Allen
PRODUCERS: Letty Aronson, Jaume Roures, and Stephen Tenenbaum
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Vilmos Zsigmond
EDITOR: Alisa Lepselter
COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Pauline Collins, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Ewen Bremner, and Zak Orth (narrator)
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is the fourth London-set film from famed director Woody Allen. The film follows a pair of married couples in some state of marital dissolution.
After her husband, Alfie Shepridge (Anthony Hopkins), divorces her, Helena Shepridge (Gemma Jones) consults Cristal (Pauline Collins), a psychic, to learn what fate has in store for her. Alfie, in the midst of an old man’s version of a midlife crisis, is engaged to a prostitute named Charmaine Foxx (Lucy Punch). Helena and Alfie’s daughter, Sally Channing (Naomi Watts), and her husband, Roy Channing (Josh Brolin), are having their own marital problems. Sally is smitten with Greg Clemente (Antonio Banderas), the owner of the art gallery where she works. Roy, a struggling writer, falls in love with Dia (Freida Pinto), a grad student who is already engaged to be married. Meanwhile, Helena waits for the tall, dark stranger Cristal predicted would come into her life.
When one considers the films Woody Allen made in the 1970s, 80s, and even into the 90s, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, like most of Allen’s films from the last decade, does not measure up. Parts of this film are dull and uninspired, but some of it is also shocking and sincere in its depiction of how a person’s dissatisfaction with his or her life can manifest itself.
I think credit should go to the cast who seem to not only make the best of this middling material, but in some cases, make it better. Gemma Jones and Anthony Hopkins are the best examples of that in this film. I’m not familiar with Jones, but I am with Hopkins. As much as I always expect him to be good, Hopkins surprises me with his fantastic turn as the vain, confused, and ultimately tragic Alfie. Hopkins brings complexity to a character that needs complexity.
The themes of this film seem to be vanity and discontent, and the characters yearn for material things while ignoring how bankrupt they are spiritually. However, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger doesn’t seem to yearn for anything, being largely philosophically and spiritually empty. This movie doesn’t even have an ending so much as the story just seems to fade away.
I have to be honest. If anyone else other than Woody Allen pulled what he does with this movie, I would be intolerant. So if you are a fan of Allen or of at least one of the cast members, you may want to meet this movie. Otherwise, you will not want to meet You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.
5 of 10
C+
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Shane Black to Direct "Iron Man 3"
The website, Total Film, is one of many reporting that Shane Black will direct "Iron Man 3, scheduled for May 2013. Shane Black, who wrote Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout, also wrote and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which starred Iron Man himself, Robert Downey, Jr. Apparently, the third Iron Man film will be a sequel to this spring's Thor and next summer's, "The Avengers." I'll post more information as I find it.
Review: "For Colored Girls" is Sho Enuf Good
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux
For Colored Girls (2010)
Running time: 134 minutes (2 hours, 14 minutes)
MPAA – R for some disturbing violence including a rape, sexual content and language
DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
WRITER: Tyler Perry (based upon the play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange)
PRODUCERS: Roger M. Bobb, Paul Hall, and Tyler Perry
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alexander Gruszynski
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy
DRAMA
Starring: Kimberly Elise, Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg, Macy Gray, Michael Ealy, Omari Hardwick, Richard Lawson, Hill Harper, and Khalil Kain
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf is a 1975 stage play written by American playwright and poet, Ntozake Shange. It is my understanding that the Obie Award-winning play is a series of 20 poems or poetic monologues that express the struggles and obstacles that African-American women face throughout their lives.
Tyler Perry, the playwright turned prolific film director, adapted Shange’s play into the 2010 film, For Colored Girls. The film explores the lives of nine modern African American women, interconnected by one way or another, and uses poetic vignettes to illuminate their struggles, suffering, and conflicts (abuse, rape, and abortion, among others).
Among the characters is Joanne “Jo” Bradmore (Janet Jackson), a magazine publisher whose husband, Carl Bradmore (Omari Hardwick), is unfaithful. Promiscuous Tangie Adrose (Thandie Newton) and troubled teenager, Nyla (Tessa Thompson), are estranged sisters who find their mother, Alice Adrose (Whoopi Goldberg), to be the thing between them. Crystal Wallace (Kimberly Elise), who works for Jo, fails to see the true danger her abusive boyfriend, war veteran Beau Willie Brown (Michael Ealy), poses to her and her children. Meanwhile, watching everything and hoping to bring everyone together is apartment manager, Gilda (Phylicia Rashad).
I’ve always thought that Tyler Perry is as capable of directing moving film dramas as he is at staging broad comedies, and For Colored Girls affirms that, although 2009’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself already proved Perry could do drama. I’m surprised that this film has gotten such negative reviews, especially because Perry has taken the black social pathologies this story depicts and has transformed them into riveting tales of human pathology with a universal appeal.
Perry’s nuanced staging and graceful directing of the camera transform what could have been downbeat into a mesmerizing panorama of compelling character dramas. Seriously, if For Colored Girls looked exactly the same and a white filmmaker like Stephen Daldry, David Fincher, or Christopher Nolan was credited as the director, film critics would be turning verbal cartwheels to praise this film. Perry’s work here as a director can be described as, at least, occasionally virtuoso, and while his screenwriting here is weaker than his directing, Perry, as both writer and director, has done a superb job turning these poetic vignettes into a powerful film.
Perry gets some fantastic performances from his cast, especially the actresses, who all hit strong emotional notes. I hate to single out any, but if I had to pick favorites, I would go with Kimberly Elise, Thandie Newton, and Phylicia Rashad. Every moment she is onscreen, Elise delivers magic; her every move and glance makes you believe that Crystal Wallace is real. Thandie Newton is effortless in her brilliance (as usual), and Rashad shows colors, shades, and textures in a performance that certainly surprised me. I never knew she was that good.
However, all the women in this film shine, giving stirring performances that help For Colored Girls to ring true. Even if Tyler Perry doesn’t get his due from critics and haters, he has given us our due – a great African-American drama about Black women.
9 of 10
A+
Friday, February 18, 2011
For Colored Girls (2010)
Running time: 134 minutes (2 hours, 14 minutes)
MPAA – R for some disturbing violence including a rape, sexual content and language
DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
WRITER: Tyler Perry (based upon the play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange)
PRODUCERS: Roger M. Bobb, Paul Hall, and Tyler Perry
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alexander Gruszynski
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy
DRAMA
Starring: Kimberly Elise, Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg, Macy Gray, Michael Ealy, Omari Hardwick, Richard Lawson, Hill Harper, and Khalil Kain
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf is a 1975 stage play written by American playwright and poet, Ntozake Shange. It is my understanding that the Obie Award-winning play is a series of 20 poems or poetic monologues that express the struggles and obstacles that African-American women face throughout their lives.
Tyler Perry, the playwright turned prolific film director, adapted Shange’s play into the 2010 film, For Colored Girls. The film explores the lives of nine modern African American women, interconnected by one way or another, and uses poetic vignettes to illuminate their struggles, suffering, and conflicts (abuse, rape, and abortion, among others).
Among the characters is Joanne “Jo” Bradmore (Janet Jackson), a magazine publisher whose husband, Carl Bradmore (Omari Hardwick), is unfaithful. Promiscuous Tangie Adrose (Thandie Newton) and troubled teenager, Nyla (Tessa Thompson), are estranged sisters who find their mother, Alice Adrose (Whoopi Goldberg), to be the thing between them. Crystal Wallace (Kimberly Elise), who works for Jo, fails to see the true danger her abusive boyfriend, war veteran Beau Willie Brown (Michael Ealy), poses to her and her children. Meanwhile, watching everything and hoping to bring everyone together is apartment manager, Gilda (Phylicia Rashad).
I’ve always thought that Tyler Perry is as capable of directing moving film dramas as he is at staging broad comedies, and For Colored Girls affirms that, although 2009’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself already proved Perry could do drama. I’m surprised that this film has gotten such negative reviews, especially because Perry has taken the black social pathologies this story depicts and has transformed them into riveting tales of human pathology with a universal appeal.
Perry’s nuanced staging and graceful directing of the camera transform what could have been downbeat into a mesmerizing panorama of compelling character dramas. Seriously, if For Colored Girls looked exactly the same and a white filmmaker like Stephen Daldry, David Fincher, or Christopher Nolan was credited as the director, film critics would be turning verbal cartwheels to praise this film. Perry’s work here as a director can be described as, at least, occasionally virtuoso, and while his screenwriting here is weaker than his directing, Perry, as both writer and director, has done a superb job turning these poetic vignettes into a powerful film.
Perry gets some fantastic performances from his cast, especially the actresses, who all hit strong emotional notes. I hate to single out any, but if I had to pick favorites, I would go with Kimberly Elise, Thandie Newton, and Phylicia Rashad. Every moment she is onscreen, Elise delivers magic; her every move and glance makes you believe that Crystal Wallace is real. Thandie Newton is effortless in her brilliance (as usual), and Rashad shows colors, shades, and textures in a performance that certainly surprised me. I never knew she was that good.
However, all the women in this film shine, giving stirring performances that help For Colored Girls to ring true. Even if Tyler Perry doesn’t get his due from critics and haters, he has given us our due – a great African-American drama about Black women.
9 of 10
A+
Friday, February 18, 2011
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