African American Film Class

  This film entitled 40-year-Old version is a very comical and enlightening film. We come in contact with this main character named Radha who is a schoolteacher and has a great relationship with her students. She is also a playwright who is steadily trying to get her work seen and become successful. She has been working on a play about Harlem and the gentrification occurring within the inner city. She tries to sell this play to a white producer, Mr. Whitman, with the help of her longtime friend Archie. He wants to help but keeps making changes to her original idea of her play that Rodha doesn’t exactly agree on. Later on in the film, Rodha randomly starts a rap career under the name RadhaMUSprime. She stumbles upon a local producer in her area named D and they begin to work together in the studio. Their relationship begins to bloom from professional to more than just friends, but lovers. Rhonda has her first showcase and ends up messing it up badly and stops rapping.  Archie...

  The film One False Move is a story of three criminals Pluto, Ray, and Fantasia who are criminals that   commit six brutal murders over the course of one night in Los Angeles. The motives behind these murders are linked to finding cocaine and making money off of it as well. Many different actions throughout this film help support this title and I would like to share my opinion. When we talk about One False Move, many actions such as killings done by the criminals, the relationship between Fantasia and Dixon, and the krama seen at the end of the film all support that title.   First, with the murders supporting the idea of one false move. There are always choices in life and even in the opening scene where we see Ray, Pluto storm in after Fantasia has catched up with her old friends and acts as a distraction to ultimately rob them. They kill all the people there after asking and robbing them from what they have.  Later on they go to another house where they are l...

  Eye’s bayou is a gothic drama film that involves a prosperous Creole-American community in the state of Louisiana in the 1960’s. Eye being the youngest girl, her brother Poe and sister Celeste. The mother, Roz Batiste , a wealthy woman and Louis Batiste being the well-known Doctor within the town. The Batiste family hosted a party at their home one night. Later on, after the party is over Eve falls asleep and upon waking up from her sleep catches her dad having sex with a woman from the party.  This woman is also known as Matty Mereaux, who is a married woman herself. Eve does not confront her father about what she saw and instead tries to confront Cisely about it. Cisely does not believe Eve and instead tries to convince her that she didn't see what she thought she saw. Eve and her father’s relationship becomes very damaged due to her seeing her father being involved with multiple women throughout the film. Also, Cisely starts experiencing her period for the first time an...

  The film Boyz in the Hood came out in 1991 by the director John Singleton who explored and displayed the lives of Black men born and raised in the hood. This film was set in South Central Los Angeles, California and we are introduced to first Tre Styles. Tre Styles  lives with his divorced mother Reva Styles  played by Angela Bassett. One day Tre begins acting up in school and his mother makes a decision for him to go live with his father in Crenshaw. Tre’s father is played by Laurence Fishburne and he is now the main caregiver to tre. He moved to live with his dad at a young age around elementary school. When he first moves into the neighborhood he befriends two other kids that are his neighbors being Ricky and Doughboy. They begin to spend time together around the neighborhood and play with one another. One day Doughboy gets in trouble for stealing and goes away to juvenile detention with another friend.  The film then fast forwards to several years later when Tr...

  The Color Purple is a very good movie that focuses on the life journey of Celie, who has to learn how to overcome abuse and constant mistreatment. The film opens up with Celie narrating her life and talking to God. While narrating Celie talks about her relationship with her father, Alphonso, who has been abusing her and raping her making her pregnant twice. While Celie is giving birth for the second time in the movie after giving birth Alphonso takes the child away, as he did with her first baby. Celie believes that her kids are dead because of this. Celie’s mother soon dies and then her dad ends up marrying a woman who is the same as Celie. Later on, in the film we are introduced to “Mister” who goes to the same churches Celie and her father.  Mister approaches Alphonso and one day proposes marriage to Celie’s younger sister, Nettie, Alphonso pushes him to take Celie instead, forcing her into an abusive marriage. Nettie follows Celie to her new home with Mister. This new m...

  This week's film of Shaft was by far my favorite film thus far. This film centers around a man named John Shaft who is a private detective working in New York City. Shaft is contacted by Bumpy Jonas, who is the head of a mob located in Harlem, and wants to hire him to locate his daughter, Marcy Jonas, who was kidnapped by white mobsters in New York. Bumpy gives Shaft some information of who he thinks might be involved in it and mentions the name of Ben Buford. Shaft agrees to help Bumpy find his daughter with the information he has and can find.  In this film, shaft is seen to have connections with both the Black and the White community in Harlem. Shaft is contacted by NYPD Lieutenant Vic Androzzi who asks him several questions about Bumpy and his whereabouts. Lieutenant assumes that Shaft and Bumpy know one another.   Shaft chooses not to say much because he doesn't feel that he can totally trust Vic. Vic warns Shaft about the potential race war that might take p...