Written & Directed by: Tanya Hamilton
Cinematopgraphy By: David Tumblety
Editor: John Chimples & Alfonso Goncalves
CAST: Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washinton, Wendell Pierce, Jamie Hector
I really wanted to like this film the previews made it look intense and the soundtrack by the roots kicks all kinds of ass. It seemed like it was a drama that revolved around the black panthers in the 70's. Not just another street story in african american cinema.
What i got was a film that had plenty of energy and characters with a great cast, but a rather thin story. there are plenty of scenes where there is alot of drama but not much happens and we learn things eventually only because the characters tell us not that we discover any of it. there are also alot of scenes where the film shows archival footage that i guess is supposed to mean something but since it doesn't put it in any context it just sits there.
Then the film just ends all of a sudden to no great fanfare. the film seems like it wants to say something and thinks that it did, but the audience is left wondering what it is becuae it is not communicated properly. The film does succeed in setting a proper mood. The film and actors feel authentic.
The film is about a young man who returns to his neighborhood that he abandoned years earlier anter being labeled a snitch that lead to the local black panther leaders death. He reconnects with a old female friend who he is staying with while in town, as he tries to clear his name and reconnect with old friends. Though while under the constant survailance of not only the cops but the local Black panther party.
Director Tonya Hamilton shows a definite talent and the film is better then half of the african-american inide films out there that seem to want to just exploit the bad things in urban life by glorifying it. i just hope that the next feature she makes is more well rounded.
I don't particularly enjoy giving urban films bad reviews i try to support them as there are usually so few of them. Don't get me wrong, It's not a bad film and is woirth watching. i just think maybe i had my hopes up too high for it. i was hoping this would be a new african-american voice in film like Barry Jenkins (MEDICINE FOR MELANCOLY) and TonyaHamilton may end up being just that. this first effort just falls short
GRADE: C+
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