MOTHER OF GEORGE

Somewhere between a Greek tragedy & a Shakespearean-style comedy (although set in modern day downtown Brooklyn with a mostly African cast) lies Andrew Dosunmu's Mother Of George (2013).

Every year after posting my year in review I always regret the placement of at least one film in my top 10 or honorable mention. Mother Of George was no doubt in my top 20 of 2013, but in the unofficial rankings I had it beneath stuff like Frances Ha & Her. I still like Frances Ha & Her, but definitely not as much as I did 18 months ago. They've both cooled off quite a bit while Mother Of George only gets better each time I watch it (without giving too much away, I used to have an issue with what I thought was a plot-hole but now I know it was needed in order to keep the story going). If I could go back and redo my list I'd put it in that same unique spot that I made for A Most Violent Year in 2014 - not exactly a top-10 movie but better than an honorable mention.
Mother Of George is quietly impressive in that it's great qualities (the cinematography, the ambiance & certain isolated scenes) slowly creep up on you weeks after you watch it.
But at the same time, this is the kind of film that could easily get overlooked (at no fault of the film or filmmaker). Besides being a smaller indie film, it shows black characters in situations that aren't exactly typical within most prominent films. What do I mean by “typical”? Mother Of George has nothing to do with any kind of racial struggle, poverty or magical negroisms. I mean, the subject of slavery alone kind of became a “thing” between 2012 (Django) through 2013 (12 Years A Slave & The Beginning of The Butler).

And please understand that in no way am I trying to downplay racism, slavery, poverty & struggle among Black people. The acts that are covered in films like Selma & 12 Years A Slave directly (and indirectly) affected my life (as far as stuff like The Butler, Django & The Help, I really have nothing nice to say so I'll just be quiet). I would even go so far as to defend certain aspects of Selma against its detractors who criticized the film for not incorporating any of Martin Luther King's real speeches due to his family not allowing them to be used in the film. Anyone who has a problem with that surely must have issues with Spike Lee's Malcolm X. I know I haven't read The Autobiography Of Malcolm X in quite some time, but last time I checked, the character of Banes wasn't even a real person and Malcolm X's introduction in to Islam is a little different from the book than it is in the film. But no one seems to have a problem with that. And at the end of the day they really shouldn't because Malcolm X is an excellent film. Spike Lee had his legitimate reasons for certain omissions as did Ava Duvernay. 

But at the end of the day I guess what I'm really trying to say is that Black people do/did more than just march for justice or swallow their pride and serve white people (and it's not like Selma's lack of Oscar nominations are going to diminish the work/iconic status of Martin Luther King Jr). Black people sometimes find themselves in the midst of complex family situations (like the family in Mother Of George). Black people embrace the beauty of their culture & ethnicity (like the close-knit African community in Mother Of George). Black people also find themselves in peculiar situations that fall within the grey area between funny & fucked up (like our female protagonist in Mother Of George). But mainstream/prominent cinema would have you think otherwise (there are obviously exceptions to what I'm saying but bottom line, my generalization is perfectly just).

In Mother Of George, we follow “Adenike”. Adenike is the loyal wife of Brooklyn restaurant owner/mama's-boy “Ayodele” (Isaach Debankole). They're under pressure from their Brooklyn-based Nigerian community to have children (most of the pressure comes from Ayodele's quietly domineering mother) but they're having fertility problems. Its not quite laid out for us in black & white, but it's implied that Ayodele's sperm count is low, yet everyone seems to blame Adenike (besides, family, loyalty & community, Mother Of George also tackles gender equality & double standards between men & women). 

After a while, Adenike is pressured by her mother-in-law to do something incredibly wrong in order to get pregnant.
The main character here may be a woman, but that doesn’t stop Andrew Dosunmu from exploring the seriousness (and sometimes silliness) of manhood & “manning up”. In addition to Ayodele being in denial about his low sperm count and not wanting to go to a fertility clinic to get help, he also doesn’t want Adenike to work because he’s stuck in the old fashioned ways of his parents where the man is the main bread winner. But no matter how stubborn and “old fashioned” Ayodele may be, he’s still a stand-up guy (the final seconds of MoG couldn’t convey the idea of “manning up” any better).

I find it funny that so many people were up in arms about Selma only getting three Oscar nominations when a year earlier, something like Mother Of George (shot, much better, by the same cinematographer as Selma) got no support outside of The Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Sundance, this very website you're reading right now or quick blurbs on Film Comment & Time Out. Where was the outcry for MoG not getting enough acknowledgement for it's excellent cinematography? I'm not exagerating when I say Mother Of George has one of the greatest opening scenes from this decade so far. It also shows a side of New York City/Brooklyn that we don't get to see too often in modern-day indie cinema.

I'm sure anyone reading this right now is aware of the recent public outrage expressed by folks who were disappointed in the lack of Oscar nominations that Selma received a few weeks ago. But I can't help but think that if Selma was nominated in every possible Oscar category, everyone would have been perfectly complacent. That's a problem to me because Selma is just ONE movie. While everyone is up in arms hashtagging “#Oscarsowhite” all over social media (because ONE movie didn't get enough nominations) there's been nice handful of films to come out in the last few years that, in my opinion, are a breath of fresh air in terms of how black people are portrayed on the big screen, but large black audiences don't seem to get behind them like they did Selma or The Butler or Precious or any of that other stuff. I know films like Newlyweeds (a smart stoner romantic comedy), Black Venus (a biopic on Sarah Bartmaan), Pariah (a film about homosexuality among young black women), A Band Called Death (a documentary about a pioneering all-Black punk band), Big Words (a film that touches on homosexuality in Hip-Hop) and other somewhat "progressive" films concerning Black people aren't always playing in major theaters, but at the same time, it's 2015. Outlets like Hulu & Netflix exist so its a lot easier to seek these movies out (I saw Pariah, Black Venus & Newlyweeds in the theater but I live in New York City). And as far as not knowing about these films existing to begin with, I blame publications like TheGrio.com, Ebony, Essence and other like-minded news sources that clearly don't seek out or push films that aren't Oprah/David Oyelowo/Lee Daniels/Tyler Perry-related (so I don't have to repeat myself, just read this piece from a few years ago).

A MOST VIOLENT YEAR

I find it strange that something like A Most Violent Year got me to (momentarily) appreciate New York City again (for those of you who haven’t seen this yet, it doesn’t exactly paint the nicest picture of the big apple). This film plays in to two of the most commonly used phrases that are associated with NYC.

On one hand, “City Of Dreams” could describe A Most Violent Year because it’s about a guy trying to make his dreams a reality. But on the other hand, “The Rotten Apple” also describes certain aspects of the film because it shows an uglier side of the city.
New York City has an interesting mystique in that whenever something great happens, you hear the phrase; “Only In New York”. But when certain negative things happen in New York (that could honestly never happen anywhere else) you hear “well, that could happen anywhere” (truly old school New Yorkers would probably say something like; “You don’t like it? Get the f*ck out”). I guess that’s what makes NYC so unique (I do honestly appreciate true New Yorkers who love & embrace both the beautiful & ugly qualities of their city). 

The negative events that take place in A Most Violent Year definitely couldn’t happen anywhere else in the world outside of possibly old school Detroit (some of the grittiness, crime & corruption we see in this film are pretty similar to the events in Paul Schrader’s Detroit-based Blue Collar).

Much of the same stuff has been written about JC Chandor's A Most Violent Year (Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, power, corruption, the testing of ones manhood, the American dream, etc). I don’t see many critics commenting on the spiritual connections it has with other classic New York City-based movies outside of Goodfellas & The Godfather.

In the film there's a chase scene that takes us from the inside of a speeding car on to a subway platform just like the iconic chase scene in The French Connection (both scenes take place in Brooklyn). About 50% of A Most Violent Year is covered in the same kind of graffiti seen in classic early 80's hip-hop films like Wild Style & Style Wars (both movies are shot exclusively in the Bronx & upper-Manhattan). Throughout the movie, news reports of murders, muggings, flashings & rapes play in the background as if someone is reading off the synopsis of an early Abel Ferrara movie. And I can't exactly put my finger on it but James Toback's Fingers also seems to be a direct influence.
I feel like had this movie been made 30 years ago it would have starred the likes of Harvey Keitel, Danny Aiello, Cathy Moriarty & Victor Argo.
A Most Violent Year doesn’t share the same grittiness as the movies that possibly influenced it (and I would never expect that) but J.C. Chandor certainly tried his best to be as authentic as possible.

The French Connection

Paul Schrader's Blue Collar explores corruption within unions which is something A Most Violent Year touches on more than once.

Style Wars

Ms. 45

It makes sense that Ms. 45, Abel Ferrara's NYC-based vigilante crime thriller, was made the same year that A Most Violent Year takes place: 1981 (this also happens to be the year I was born). New York City had such a strangely negative outside reputation that John Carpenter's conveniently titled Escape From New York was released that year. But what people need to understand is that this film doesn't try to touch on every issue concerning NYC at the time (racial tension, police brutality, drugs, etc). That would be too big of a task. Chandor does make it a point to have some of these issues in the peripheral of the film in a Robert Altman-esque kind of way where even though things are out of focus or almost off camera, they still hold importance. In the French Connection-inspired chase scene I mentioned at the beginning of this review, we get a glimpse of a young mohawked punk on the train standing near Oscar Isaacs. And outside of the traditional graffiti artwork we see, there's a million black sharpie tags in what seems like every other frame of the movie.
But the focal point of the film is about "Abel" (Oscar Isaacs) a businessman trying to advance & expand his (legitimate) fuel business (and protect his family) amidst the opposition of his dirty competitors who seem to be conspiring against him.

A unique aspect about this film is that it's probably the most non-gangster gangster film I can think of. What I mean by that is the language & violence within A Most Violent Year would have you think you were watching a mob movie, but we never see any actual mobsters or traditional gangsters. There is always the heavy implication that they're right around the corner (it's heavily implied that Jessica Chastain's character comes from some kind of connected mob family that are just a phone call away). There are two scenes where Chastain's "Anna" handles a gun and you get the sense that she's been around firearms before and she isn't just Abel's housewife.

It seems fitting that days before I saw this I caught a screening of Sydney Lumet's 1958 TV adaptation of All The Kings Men (at Anthology Film Archives) which also deals with power & corruption among questionable characters who either start out “good” and end up “bad” or straddle the line between good & bad through the entire film.

A Most Violent Year shies away from clichés like stereotypical shots of midtown Manhattan, the statue of liberty or the empire state building (I imagine there were budgetary and/or permit reasons that kept them from shooting in populated areas, but it works out in the film's favor). And if you look back at some of the classic New York City films that I’ve mentioned in this write-up so far (most of which were directed by or starring native New Yorkers like James Toback, Abel Ferrara, Harvey Keitel & Zoe Lund), those movies didn’t really feature too much of that either (outside of shots of old school midtown Manhattan which was a much different place back then). Any time we see a recognizable shot of NYC in A Most Violent Year, it’s usually from afar (the film was shot mostly in Queens). That’s right folks – this is one of those rare recent occasions where a movie set in New York City ventures outside of Manhattan & Brooklyn (there were a few scenes shot in Brooklyn but I believe for the most part, A Most Violent Year was filmed/set in Queens neighborhoods like Rego Park & Long Island City).

And all possible influences aside, A Most Violent Year is still very much it's own movie. I wouldn't want to present this film as a Tarantino-esque movie mixtape of "cool" non-stop movie references that only movie nerds would get.

Also before we go any further, I don’t mean to downplay the influence that Coppola & Scorsese had on this film. The sub-plot about the trucks being hijacked comes right out of Goodfellas (which is loosely based on true events). And some moments where Isaacs & Chastain argue with one another reminded me of the chemistry between Ray Liotta & Lorraine Braco. Certain moments where our characters meet with one another to work out some kind of business deal in the back of a darkly lit restaurant comes straight out of the first Godfather (I'd even be so bold as to compare Oscar Isaac's performance to Al Pacino's).

Had my fiancee not suggested we see this, I would have probably waited years down the line when it was streaming on Netflix. You see, between American Hustle, The Iceman & Argo, I have a tough time sitting through recent films set during the late 70's/early 80's because for whatever reason filmmakers have to shove all the nostalgia, bad hair, mustaches, pony-tails & tacky clothes down our throats in an obnoxious way (A Most Violent Year also seemed like Oscar-bait before I saw it). Authenticity is important for me in these kinds of movies and it certainly doesn’t help when an actor is rocking a ridiculous wig...

American Hustle

That's not to say American Hustle & Argo are bad films (The Iceman is pretty awful tho) but they're all still tainted by tackiness to a certain degree. The wardrobes & backdrops in A Most Violent Year are a little more toned down. There isn’t an abundance of 80's music blasting throughout the movie in an embarrassingly transparent way either (Alex Ebert's borderline ambient score is way more fitting than any 80's mixtape). And even when things get a little over-the top and super tacky, it's believable mostly in part to Jessica Chastain who comes off pretty stunning in a performance that's reminiscent of Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface in terms of attitude & wardrobe...

Although I consider Amherst, Massachusetts to be my hometown, I still lived the first seven years of my life in Queens, New York which certainly left a lasting impression on me. My family also visited New York City (specifically Queens & Harlem) on a regular basis while we lived in Amherst so I remember the boom-boxes, graffiti, empty crack vials, giant glasses, strong cologne, the '86 Mets, homeless people trying to clean your windshield with dirty sponges, addicts nodding off on the corner, big cars, dirty trains and all the other cliches most people associate with New York City. Because of my own experience I'm always skeptical when something is dubbed an authentic New York City film. But A Most Violent Year joins the ranks of recent authentic NYC movies like Mother Of George (Brooklyn), Newlyweeds (Brooklyn), Jamel Shabazz Street Photographer (Brooklyn) or even Gimme The Loot (Bronx/Queens/Manhattan) and, YES, Frances Ha (Manhattan/Brooklyn).

As you all know I've already put out my best of 2014 list before seeing a handful of movies, including this one. I don’t know if A Most Violent Year is good enough to make me redo my top 10, but it certainly falls in to that strange limbo area between top 10 & honorable mention along with films like Nightcrawler & Guardians Of Galaxy (actually without giving too much away, A Most Violent Year & Nightcrawler have similar endings and both deal with the twisted/dark side of chasing the American dream).

The ambiguous note that J.C. Chandor ends the film on is perfect in my opinion. 1981 was only the tipping point as far as I'm concerned. There was a lot more to come. By Reagan's second term (1984) "Reaganomics" were in full swing, drugs had completely taken over certain pockets of all five boroughs (see New Jack City or listen to Public Enemy's Night Of The Living Baseheads for further examples), and between Bernard Goetz (1984) & Yusef Hawkins (1986), racial tension had reached an all time high (my family ended up moving out of Queens by the late 80's due to issues ranging from my grandmother getting mugged, to us getting caught in the middle of gunfire).
Any film that brings up these kinds of personal memories is a success in my book so I highly recommend seeing this.

BLACK WOMEN IN INDEPENDENT FILM IN 2011 (Dark Girls, Pariah & The Black Power Mixtape)

'Pariah' (2011)

I don't wanna get carried away and make a crazy statement like: "There was an EXPLOSION of black cinema in 2011" (something I'm sure a lot of people would be quick to say) but at the same time, there was enough to make a small dent, which is better than nothing (Pariah, Black Power Mixtape & Dark Girls). Most of these films were centered around a demographic that often gets overlooked and is constantly misunderstood & misrepresented on the big screen: Black Women. I imagine some of you may be thinking; "But Marcus, what about The Help?." In my opinion, even though I love Viola Davis, the whole vibe of The Help comes off like another Drivin' Miss Daisy to me (just my opinion). It's a confusing mixture of humor, drama & oversimplified racism. From the poster, to the trailer, which came off somewhat "upbeat", it gives off this vibe as if to say: "Oh Boy that segregation sure was a doozy! Ah boy, being black in the 1950's sure was wacky, wasn't it?" I'm honestly amazed (and VERY confused) at the amount of positive reviews and acclaim The Help has been getting. But at the same time I get it. It makes (some) white people feel good about themselves and (most) black people will blindly support anything "black" without putting too much thought in to it (there, I said it). As I watched Octavia Spencer win an academy award the other night it almost made me cringe as everyone in attendance gave her a standing ovation.

Precious was another recently praised film that also confused me. It brought up all these emotions and feelings that honestly make me feel like I'm alone in this world sometimes. Upon receiving an article from my father about how Hollywood likes dysfunctional black characters (which is kind of true), stemming from Mo'nique's academy award win for best supporting actress in 2010, I had this to say (you may wanna read this article below before going any further):

"Hollywood Likes Dysfunctional Black Characters"

And now read how my simple email response to my father slowly turned in to an essay/rant hybrid...

the person who wrote this article doesn't completely know what they're talking about.

for example:

"Okay, so we all know that Mo'Nique deserved the best supporting actress Oscar she won this past Sunday. Her performance in "Precious" was brilliant, and there’s no way I’m going to diss my homegirl"

NO! her performance wasn't "brilliant". shes not even a good actor. its just a novelty. a comedic personality plays a serious role for the first time, and people automatically jump all over it. Actually, id like someone to point out the difference between Mo'nique's character in precious and the actress who played Ice Cube's mother in Boyz N' The Hood. Where's her academy award?? Plus, the span between those two characters is almost 20 years. that's proof right there that black film isn't really moving forward. in fact its come full circle. 20 years later, and the same angry, single, bad black mother character is still being portrayed (and praised).

another example that the person writing this article doesn't know what they're talking about:

"Of the six black Oscar winners since 2002, only Morgan Freeman and Jamie Foxx played African-Americans who were even close to normal."

no way. he's talking about morgan freeman's oscar win for "million dollar baby". its like black people don't even realize that in a pivotal scene in million dollar baby, morgan freeman's character beat up a black person to defend a white person...the same white person who called him a "nigger" at the beginning of the movie. But he's morgan freeman, so no one (especially black people) can criticize him, because hes the wise sounding, smooth talking, old black guy. but i see through that. I'm not fooled. how many role's has morgan freeman played the helpful black sidekick to the white lead? or how many times has he played the wise, mysterious black person who always helps the lead white character (sometimes sacrificing his own life)? plenty.
Black people aren't critical enough if you ask me. we accept things way too easily. its like black people are saying; "did a black person just win some shiny trophy?? well, I'm gonna automatically support that person and the movie, and not even take the time to break down what the movie is about, or break down the performance of the character." and the few times a black person does criticize negative black roles, the black community pulls that "why do black people always have to tear down other black people?" crap. i don't wanna hear that shit. and white people don't want to say anything about negative black roles, because their scared someone is gonna pull the race card.
to say Hollywood likes dysfunctional black characters is kinda vague, because how many white actors have been nominated or won oscars and other various awards for playing dysfunctional characters? plenty. There's bigger issues concerning black people in film today

-Marcus

Now here we are two years later and not much has changed. A lot of the things I said in that email response above still apply today. I'm sorry (actually I'm not sorry) but characters like Tyler Perry's "Madea" (which looks like it wont be going away any time soon) and Mo'Nique's performance in 'Precious' have a negative effect on the image of black women. And I'm not denying that Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis didn't give great performances in The Help, but at the same time, I'm done with movies like that. Is it possible to make a film showing black women not just in a positive light (because that's a little vague vague), but show how beautiful, attractive, complex and talented they are? Thanks to recent films like Pariah, Dark Girls (which has yet to be released) and The Black Power Mixtape (which is starting to develop quite a lil' cult following), things are lookin' up!

PARIAH

At the very end of Pariah, a coming of age tale about a New York teen coming to grips with being a lesbian, I couldn't help but worry that newcomer; Adepero Oduye (who gave an AMAZING performance in her first starring role) might turn in to another Shareeka Epps - another young black actress who gave an equally commanding & original performance in Half Nelson, but has yet to be seen in much since (which was over 5 years ago). Sure, there may be factors as to why we haven't seen her in many other films (maybe she just didn't want to act that much or maybe she wanted to focus on school give her age). But I tend to lean towards whats probably the real reason - the American movie industry is pretty messed. Generally speaking, American filmmakers don't seem to know how to portray black female characters that don't look a certain way. I mean really, stop and ask yourself why Nona Gaye (Ali), Naomie Harris (Miami Vice), China Shavers (Beginners) and even Nia Long (who's clearly found the fountain of youth) don't turn up in more films in starring roles.Look at European actresses who have made the transition in to mainstream/American studio films like Juliette Binoche, Marian Cotillard and Audrey Tatou. How come beautiful black actresses based out of France like Aissa Maiga (Bamako, Russian Dolls) or Mati Diop (35 Shots Of Rum) haven't made the same transisiton? Surely acting ability or beauty isn't the question. I know Kerry Washington has been holding it down, but she cant do it all by herself. What makes Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman, Cameron Diaz or Emma Stone more attractive or more appealing than the aforementioned black actresses? I mean, I know we all know the real reason, but I'm just sayin'...
At the moment things are looking up for Adepero Oduye. At the golden globes Meryl Streep gave her a shout out in her acceptance speech and then overnight she got signed to a talent agency. Lets see how the film industry can use her.
In Pariah we follow "Alike"; a Brooklyn teen who isn't exactly in the closet, but isn't exactly openly gay either. She almost leads a double life. When she's home or around her parents (a religious mother who senses that Alike is gay, and tries to "fix" her; and a father, also in denial about his daughter's sexual orientation, although slightly more caring) she tries to dress and act more feminine. When she's not at home or around her parents she dresses more "boyish", hangs out with one of her only (also gay) friends and frequents a popular gay club. As the film progresses things kinda start to spiral out of control for Alike and she learns things about herself and the people around her which forces her to grow up and mature faster than others her age. Pariah walks the same path as films like Mouchette, Match Factory Girl & Welcome To The Dollhouse (Adepero Oduye's performance was also reminiscent of Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple).

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE

Its obvious that the Swedish documentary The Black Power Mixtape wasn't JUST about Angela Davis, but at the same time she was (literally) the poster child for the film. Next to the section that focused on Stokely Carmichael, the parts on Angela Davis are probably the most memorable. I've always been intrigued by Davis and this documentary just heightened that intrigue. From her signature afro right down to the way she carries herself in interviews, she's one of a kind. It makes me wonder why more films don't focus on her. Its a sad state of affairs when there's more of a demand for a Sarah Palin biopic then there is for one on Angela Davis (or even someone like Assata Shakur for that matter). The Black Power Mixtape is a documentary made out of hours of edited footage taken by Swedish filmmakers in the 1960's & 1970's who went to Oakland and Harlem to document the Black Power movement for the Swedish news. The doc features great archival footage of speeches and interviews from many prominent black civil rights figures and revolutionaries (Davis, Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, Eldridge Cleaver, etc) with up to date interviews and voice-over commentary from artists like Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli & Questlove. This documentary has structure but its also chaotic and unstructured at the same time (if that makes any sense) which is what I love about it so much.
I think the most unique thing about the making of this film is that even though its captured through the eyes of white Europeans, it still doesn't objectify or misrepresent black people in any way. But at the same time I shouldn't be all that surprised given that so many modern European directors like; Michael Haneke (Code Unknown & Cache), Nicolas Provost (The Invader) and Claire Denis (No Fear, No Die & 35 Shots Of Rum) seem to be the main directors making most of the progressive films concerning black people and race issues today.

DARK GIRLS

Bill Duke is similar to Tom Noonan. As an actor he's mostly known for stuff like Predator & Commando (similar to how as an actor Noonan is mostly know for Monster Squad & The Last Action Hero) but as a director Duke focuses on more personal stories (like Tom Noonan's directorial debut; What Happened Was..., which might be one of the most personal & real stories to ever be put on the big screen in the last 25 years). Duke's latest documentary; Dark Girls addresses real issues concerning black women and could have easily been twice as long. When I caught this at Toronto it was nice to see a packed theater. When you're like me and go to the regular movie theaters I go too (Anthology Film Archives, IFC center, Film Forum, etc), you're use to being one of the only black people there (even at screenings of films that speak directly to black people).

Dark Girls is a complex film about the racism, struggles & pressure black women face all over the world. Duke focuses on internal racism inside of the black community (black men not being attracted to black women because their too dark, black women being encouraged by their family to be with someone lighter or white so they don't have dark kids, etc), and he interviews everyone from actresses like Viola Davis to "every day" women. Certain aspects of the documentary were summarized and wrapped up a little too nicely for my taste, but at the end of the day this documentary dealt with issues that other films haven't so its a success in my book.