“Prison Song” by Darnell Martin (2001)

Favorite 52 movies screened between Aug 20 and May 21 (#7)

Good script, dialogues and expression
Excellent message
Top direction, images, music, and minority presence

A second feature as explosive as the first one
A movie made 20 years before Black Lives Matter that has lost nothing of its scope and power and that so unfortunately still fits our time…
Great camera work

Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,2
IMDB 6,3
TMDB 5,3
Average critics —
Average public 6,9

Cast: Danny Hoch, Elvis Costello, Q-Tip
Director: Darnell Martin
Writers: Darnell Martin, Q-Tip
Cinematography by Alexander Gruszynski
Film Editing by Peter C. Frank

“Prison Song” by Darnell Martin (2001)

Tribute to Darnell Martin (3/4)

Good script, dialogues and expression
Excellent message
Top direction, images, music, and minority presence

A second feature as explosive as the first one
A movie made 20 years before Black Lives Matter that has lost nothing of its scope and power and that so unfortunately still fits our time…
Great camera work

Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,2
IMDB 6,3
TMDB 5,3
Average critics —
Average public 6,9

Cast: Danny Hoch, Elvis Costello, Q-Tip
Director: Darnell Martin
Writers: Darnell Martin, Q-Tip
Cinematography by Alexander Gruszynski
Film Editing by Peter C. Frank

“The Rosa Parks Story” by Julie Dash (2002)

Good personages
Top minority representation and message

The personal story of one of America’s great icons of the Black Liberation movement
Unfortunately, the direction is bland and lacks ‘homogeneity. It could have used a bit more charisma

IMDB 7,3

Cast: Angela Bassett, Peter Francis James, Tonea Stewart
Director: Julie Dash
Writer: Paris Qualles
Music by Joseph Conlan
Cinematography by David Claessen
Film Editing by Wendy Hallam Martin

“Where Hands Touch” by Amma Asante (2018)

As in other Amma Asante’s movies, the love story of a mixed couple in an inimical environment.
The themes are very similar to those found in Belle and in A United Kingdom: a web of social constraints that ensue from racial segregation (horizontal) and hierarchical stratification and dominance (vertical inequalities), with love and politics cleverly intertwined. Here too, the main female characters are and remain intelligent and substantial throughout the movie.
However, the direction and acting here are stiff and clumsy

Cast: Amandla Stenberg, George MacKay, Abbie Cornish, Christopher Eccleston
Director: Amma Asante
Writer: Amma Asante
Cinematographer: Remi Adefarasin
Editor: Steve Singleton
Composer: Anne Chmelewsky

“Detroit” by Kathlyn Bigelow (USA, 2017)

Begins as an historical drama, and ends as a case of racism, abuse, and corruption by the police

Cast: John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, Jason Mitchell, Hannah Murray, Jack Reynor, Kaitlyn Dever, Ben O’Toole, Anthony Mackie
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writer: Mark Boal
Cinematographer: Barry Ackroyd
Editor: William Goldenberg, Harry Yoon
Composer: James Newton Howard

“The Secret Life Of Bees” by Gina Prince-Bythewood (USA, 2008)

A weaker work in this director’s oeuvre, with unconvincing cast, situations, and dialogues

Cast: Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo, Paul Bettany
Written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
Based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd
Music by Mark Isham
Cinematography by Rogier Stoffers
Film Editing by Terilyn A. Shropshire

“Mudbound” by Dee Rees (USA, 2017)

The many voice-over deepen the personages as we share their “inner voice”, but leave us somewhat outside of them.

Cast: Carey Mullig;an, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Garrett Hedlund, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, Jonathan Banks, Kerry Cahill, Dylan Arnold, Lucy Faust
Director: Dee Rees
Writer (novel): Hillary Jordan
Writer: Virgil Williams, Dee Rees
Cinematographer: Rachel Morrison
Editor: Mako Kamitsuna
Composer: Tamar-kali