Old Gold Soul Press
My name is Rashid Darden and I like nostalgia.
I’ve had a rough past couple of weeks. Depending on how you look at life, one could say it’s been a rough past couple of years. But this post is not about that. It’s about how a little nostalgia and a commercial flop of a movie made me have a better day.
[Read more…] about Santa ClausToday I saw a film called Detroit. There is a great review of the movie by Angelica Jade Bastien that you should read.
As a black person just one generation away from the events of this film, I felt disturbed. Although the review above explains why, I also want you to hear it directly from my “voice.”
Black people are no strangers to trauma. Historical films about the black experience will inevitably contain scenes that could be triggering to black people. Most of my favorite films do, from The Color Purple to The Birth of a Nation.
But Detroit is different. The violence in other films, whether made by black filmmakers or by white filmmakers, is either graphic to prove a point previously unproven, or is restrained in order to not fetishize the violence.
Detroit makes the violence into a kind of pornography. It is not transformative, artistically or emotionally.
Why do we need this film when we are already living a Trayvon Martin reality fifty years later?
Black people do not need to see this film.
White people only need to see this film if they’ve been asleep for the last fifty years. But when you do see it, don’t be fooled by the ill-placed “See, there are good white people” tropes.
One thing I will say, though: this is an all-star cast of some of the best young black performers of our generation. Special shout outs to Ephraim Sykes, Malcolm David Kelley, Tyler James Williams, Samira Wiley, and Gbenga Akinnagbe, among many others. Their performances are outstanding and I am at least glad that some black people got paid.
But otherwise, this movie was a big trigger for the woke. Skip it.
Every time I’ve seen Moonlight, I’ve called–or struggled to call–the first great love of my life. I want to tell him to watch it. I guess I’ve already told him in some way. We’re friends. We’re collaborators. I love him. I resent him. I hate him. I forgive him. I forget him.
I see Moonlight and I remember.
This film will be an emotional roller coaster for anyone who was once a gay black boy. Your mileage may vary.
I have been asking my straight male friends to go see this film as soon as possible. I have seen it twice now. I want them to know.
I write the love that I want to see. I write the love that I want to have. I write the love I thought I had sixteen years ago.
I am 37. I know what I am doing with every facet of my life except this.
The human brain is not fully developed until at least age 25, and I believe that. I want so desperately to believe that the love I fell in sixteen years ago could be that impulsive, basketball and pledge boots love that became Adrian and Isaiah from my novels, that could have grown into the Barack and Michelle of the black gays. I want to believe, also, that the bloody, transformative love between Justin and Dante in my last novel, could have been based in that kernel of love I once felt.
And the poems that I look back on. I am ashamed. I am embarrassed. The lack of development in my brain is evident in the simple verse and histrionics, but what can you tell a 21-year old who’d had his first taste?
Moonlight wrecked me. The actors, superb in any way, portrayed the kind of romance that I want:
Innocent love.
Forgiving love.
Redemptive love.
No one looks at me. That’s what this feels like.
Ashton Sanders (Chiron) was my favorite actor. Walk with me… he gave the kind of performance that Cynthia Erivo gave as Celie in Broadway’s The Color Purple revival. With his body, he became Chiron. Every walk, every tear, every mumble. I believed him as I believed her, every toe point and frown.
What about love?
I believe Moonlight to be a love story, more than it is a story about mass incarceration, drug addiction, bullying, or homophobia–yet it is all of those things, too. It has to be.
What about tears when you’re happy?
I’ve seen Moonlight twice now. The second time, I saw how the actors looked at each other and I believed them and I wanted to be looked at that way.
Last week, I thought someone looked at me like that.
And I thought that perhaps not even he ever looked at me like that.
But I don’t think it was anything, really. I think it was just a moment that I wanted to see, that somehow my hand pushed the planchette to the answer I wanted to see at that moment.
I write these moments. I watch these moments. Thank you, Barry Jenkins. Thank you, Tarell McCraney.
But I do not live these moments and I don’t know that I can.
Posted without revisions and with all due anxiety.
Here am I with my friend Zoila who I hadn’t seen in years!
What a roller coaster the past few weeks have been!
For those of you who have been wondering, I have seen a few more films, namely The Boss (there were black people in it) and Eye in the Sky (there were black people in it and it was really good). Although I enjoyed both films, I really just didn’t feel like writing about either of them. I’ve also gotten a little bored with my overall mission of sharing my thoughts about race and representation in cinema. I’ve been doing this for almost a year and I think I’m good.
I do still plan to stay enrolled in MoviePass and I will probably still review some films, but because I have so much else going on, I will only write about those films which I find particularly good, moving, or problematic.
***
I got a new job! I am a full-time teacher. I don’t blog about work.
***
But I do blog about the wonderful opportunities I have for public speaking! The brothers of Chi Phi Fraternity at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania invited me to speak at their annual Biff Hoffman Diversity Lecture! The organizer and my host was a delightful young man named Patrick who ensured that I was well taken care of the entire time.
My mission was to facilitate conversations and give thoughts about the intersection of LGBT life and Greek life (and inevitably race, because I personally don’t separate being black from being gay). I visited two classes, one club/collective, and spend significant time at the Chi Phi house speaking with their leadership and their members.
As I told them, if I had sons who attended Bucknell, I would be perfectly comfortable seeing them pledge Chi Phi if that was in their hearts. I really mean that. Great guys.
The actual lecture happened on the day Prince died. Even though it was a somber day for me, I still had to make sure I made the evening meaningful for the listeners. I told my personal story and did my best to link it to their experiences at Bucknell.
One of the recurring questions was “How do we recruit diverse people if diverse people don’t rush?” My answer was layered, but for simplicity’s sake, I will say this to anyone reading: Generally, don’t wait for “rush week” to recruit your guys–recruitment is a year-round endeavor. And secondly, I don’t think people from marginalized communities want to participate in cattle-calls for various reasons. I mean, why go to an American Idol audition when you can get discovered singing in a local dive bar? Chances are about the same, right?
So meet gay folks and people of color where they already are: the dorm (they gotta live somewhere), the caf (they gotta eat), and class (they gotta get knowledged)!
I know it’s easier said than done, but wouldn’t everyone prefer recruiting organically anyway?
That was just one of my pearls of wisdom. Hopefully those wonderful folks at Bucknell walked away with something.
***
Of course, Prince died. I am not sure what, if anything, I have to say about that, especially so soon after David Bowie’s death. So many tears. So much sadness. Maybe one day.
***
I will be at DC Black Pride again this year at the Writer’s Forum. I haven’t been a panelist in a few years so I am excited to promote my appearance in 47-16, a tribute anthology to David Bowie.
More about that later as well.
***
I thank all of you who think of me, check on me, and pray for me. I really do appreciate it. Stay tuned!
*Spoilers throughout*
[Read more…] about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – There Are Black People In It
I try very hard to avoid reviews of films I intend to see, but the bad reviews of Race, the Jesse Owens biopic, were fairly unavoidable in my sphere. [Read more…] about Race: There Are Black People In It
This past Saturday, I knew I wanted to see a movie, but the Rock & Roll Marathon was in town so I knew hitting up a theater would be a little challenging. Luckily, I live fairly close to the Regal Cinema in Silver Spring, MD (although my favorite theater is the AMC Mazza Gallerie). Can I just say that the Regal is obnoxiously large? Like I felt like I could have a medical episode in there and nobody would find me for days. [Read more…] about 10 Cloverfield Lane: There Were No Black People In It
So I saw Fifty Shades of Black over the weekend. The reviews were hilarious! I was like “Finally, a parody film I can believe in!”
No.
[Read more…] about Fifty Shades of Black: There Are Black People In It; Bye Anyway
Although I have been watching movies, I haven’t felt moved to review them since David Bowie died. It’s been really rough over here. The good news is that I’m close to completing my essay about Bowie as well as launching a project related to him. The bad news is that it’s not done yet. In the mean time, here are very brief reflections on The Revenant and Spotlight. [Read more…] about The Revenant/Spotlight: It Was Like A Black Person Each
The Big Short was interesting, and at times way over my head in terms of the concepts presented. [Read more…] about The Big Short: There Are Black People In It
I wasn’t sure whether or not I would post spoilers in this review, so I delayed posting my thoughts about Star Wars: The Force Awakens until I felt we were in safe harbor about key plot points slipping out. [Read more…] about Star Wars: The Force Awakens – There Are Black People In It
This essay has spoilers. [Read more…] about Creed: There Are Black People In It
Well, it finally happened.
After about ten movies (counting two Doctor Who episodes at the cinema) I have finally watched a film that had no black people. [Read more…] about The 33: There Are No Black People In It*
I saw Spectre yesterday. It was okay! [Read more…] about Spectre: There Are Black People In It
In the event that you have been in a coma for the past few decades, Steve Jobs was the co-founder and CEO of Apple and is widely regarded as either a genius or the biggest asshole ever. I was not excited to see this film because I am #TeamPC and #TeamAndroid.
You already know that I am not here for films without black people. [Read more…] about Steve Jobs: There Is One Black Person In It
Trying something new! I apologize for the tardiness, guys! Today’s review is co-written and cross-posted. Read on. [Read more…] about Sicario: There Are Black People In It
I was beginning to feel like the movie industry was conspiring against me. I have this great MoviePass that allows me to see a movie a day for $30 a month, but virtually none of the films out right now seemed worth getting out of the house and putting clothes on. I was sort of neutral about seeing The Martian because I am not really a Matt Damon fan, but after seeing that my fraternity brother Christopher had seen it the previous night and enjoyed it, I figured I should give it a try. Plus, I knew for a fact black people were in it, even if not in the leading roles.
My theater of choice was not showing The Martian, so I went to DC’s historic Uptown theater, one of the last remaining single-screen, neighborhood theaters around these parts. I had last been to the Uptown back when the first Harry Potter came out. When I worked for Georgetown, my department had opted to go to the movies as a group rather than the traditional office celebration. While it was fun, I fell asleep for most of it.
Incidentally, my former boss from a different job I’d had eleven years after Georgetown was also at this showing of The Martian. So annoying! Luckily, he did not see me. I really didn’t want to have to roll my eyes at him, but I was fully prepared to do so.
I headed to the colored section mezzanine of the theater and took my seat. Less comfortable seating than most other theaters, but what you lost in width you gained in overall size of the screen, as well as really cool layout. The men’s room had a sitting area. They call it the men’s lounge. I got a kick out of that.
By now, you already know that The Martian is a space film. Matt Damon is an astronaut on Mars. When a sandstorm comes through, they have to abort the mission and they left Matt Damon for dead.
The rest of the movie is about people on Earth trying to bring Matt Damon back. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the head of the Mars mission. He’s really good. He’s just a good actor in the first place, but I really enjoyed him in this role. He doesn’t overdo it and you really feel his anguish as well as his ambition.
But…
I gotta say I ain’t never met no black dude named “Kapoor.” I did not read the book this movie was based on, but I am concerned that they “blackwashed” another character of color. Would I trade Chiwetel? Not for anything in the world. But I am hoping he was not “supposed” to be South Asian and they just said “Ah, fuck it, let’s get Chiwetel!” Because real talk? Chiwetel could have been Matt Damon’s character easily. But more on that in a second.
Chiwetel Ejiofor was really, really good in this. The end.
You know who else was really good? Donald Freaking Glover. LIKE SO GOOD. You guys. And he’s not just a comic sidekick or eye candy, he plays a really pivotal role in the film. He makes black guys doing science look cool. And sexy. Chiwetel is also sexy, but not Donald Glover sexy. I don’t want to say more because I don’t want to spoil it, but trust me when I say that his role is necessary.
You know, two things happened to me during this movie. First, I cried a lot. Like snot and everything. I was really moved by the emotional power of the story.
Secondly, I thought very hard about how this movie could impact the children and teens who decide to watch it. There are so many awesome moments where I was like YAAAAAAAS, I SEE YOU SCIENCE! I used to be interested in science as a child, but literature captured my passion sooner and surer than any other subject. But what if The Martian really did inspire more kids to pursue scientific careers? Especially black boys, who could be inspired by Donald and Chiwetel’s portrayals of scientific cool.
But one thing nagged at me…where were the black women? Although I did like Jessica Chastain and Kate Mara, I can’t help but think damn, why not Gabrielle Union and Sasheer Zamata? While I don’t think a film should strive to be a rainbow coalition, it was a bummer to not see black women in the forefront.
Kristen Wiig is not interchangeable, though. Just want to get that straight.
Back to Matt Damon. I say this knowing there is possibility of bias because of his recent comments about diversity, but if I put that to the side for a minute, I feel the same way: Matt Damon is not what made this movie great. He was just Matt Damon to me and could have been exchanged for any number of white male actors that I like better than Matt Damon. But again I say why a white male actor in the lead? Why not Chiwetel? Why not Anthony Mackie? Why not Will Smith? Just kidding, he’s terrible.
All in all, The Martian was great and was very nearly the best movie I saw this year.
But then I saw Sicario.
I saw The Perfect Guy last week but it took me forever to write a review. Why?
I mean, the film had black people in it. I live for black films. And also, it was not a churchy movie or a Tyler Perry movie, so I really should have loved it. I love black films. I love black people.
It had Sanaa Lathan, Morris Chestnut, and Michael Ealy. I love them. I love them.
So why didn’t I love The Perfect Guy?
It was dry as hell! We are immediately dumped into this boring at best, vapid at worst couple’s relationship melodrama and we don’t have any sort of empathy for either of them. Sanaa is playing the role rather shrill and unsympathetic and Morris seems to come off as a cad. So it seems.
Michael does a bang-up job as the titular perfect guy, and we see more personality in him, but I mean you have to, because you know he has the biggest transition to make in the film. We have to believe he is a great dude and we also have to believe he is crazy.
My failure to connect with any of the characters has nothing to do with the actors, though. It was definitely the writing.
I must say, the scene where Sanaa takes Michael (see how I don’t even remember their names?!) back to her parents’ house was well done. That was good writing and good acting. But the majority of the rest of the film is utterly predictable. Just because all the characters are black doesn’t mean it’s not predictable. We have seen the stalker boyfriend movie before a million times over.
You know what else? This movie for damn sure was hampered by the PG-13 rating. The Perfect Guy is so restrained it practically begs for nudity and violence. Okay, maybe the film itself didn’t beg but I sure am! We want to hear the F-bomb! We want blood! And dammit, we want cheekaleeks! What’s the point of a psycho stalker boyfriend film without gratuitous violence? Without those things, I was left feeling as though I saw a really good Lifetime movie… but I don’t pay this MoviePass fee for Lifetime!
Finally, I do want to say a word on what makes a movie “black.” As you know, the purpose of my movie reviews is to answer the fundamental question whether there were black people in it. But I also want to have just plain good conversations about representation in general. So what does it mean that The Perfect Guy was the typical psycho stalker boyfriend film, but happens to have a black cast?
People have said that this film had “colorblind” casting. Uh, no the hell it didn’t. It was a very color-aware film. If it was colorblind, I dare say it would have been a more multi-ethnic cast. I believe that this film was made to make a point, or to test a theory, even though the point has been made and the theory has been proven time and again:
Yes, black films will perform well in the box office. Okay, we get it.
But as for me? I would have loved to have seen more blackness in the film, culturally speaking. I don’t mean Sanaa had to rock a natural hairstyle or fry chicken while wearing a kente apron. I mean, why not wear a Spelman sweatshirt? Or have an elephant collection in her living room? Or any number of other little touches that the average college educated black person might have. The Cosby Show was great at this, as well as Steve Harvey’s old sitcom, and that sitcom on Nickelodeon with the obnoxiously large Omega shield in the living room.
Now I did like the reggae club scene, but the more I think about it, the less I like that it was tied to the notion of being exotic and forbidden. Black spaces are not exotic. They’re not just where we want to go when we want to have illicit sex. They are just spaces.
The Perfect Guy was not a bad movie. It was just an unremarkable movie. Like mayonnaise. Black people can do better than mayonnaise.
Last night I went to see Doctor Who in 3D at my local theater. We saw the Series 8 finale event, episodes Dark Water and Death in Heaven.
If you are not a Whovian, sorry champ, the rest of this review probably won’t make sense.
So my friend and I had already seen the episodes when they aired last year but we thought it would be worth it to see even just the opening credits in 3D. And I can assure you yes the fuck it was worth it. Imagine seeing this in 3D:
So basically the premise of this episode is that Danny Pink has died after a freak car accident and Clara wants him back. She tries to force the Doctor into changing time, but he refuses, instead offering to take Clara to a point in time and space where she and Danny’s timelines are intertwined.
I should mention at this point that Danny Pink is black. And very, very attractive.
So hell yeah Clara, you betta did that!
So their travels take them to the Nethersphere, which is initially posited as the afterlife, where Danny is. But it’s not really the afterlife, it’s a hard drive where dead people’s souls go because of a plot to take over the world that the Master (now Missy) has undertaken. The souls, or consciousness, or whatever the hell we’re talking about (It’s Doctor Who, so I think they make it up as they go along) are scheduled to be uploaded into Cybermen.
Michelle Gomez as Missy is absolutely brilliant, by the way. She was also worth the price of admission.
Danny Pink eventually is turned into a Cyberman but because he did not delete his emotions, he is not properly plugged into the hive mind of the Cybermen, so he is not obeying orders. He saves Clara, has one last bitch-fit with the Doctor, and ultimately saves the world.
I may have simplified things a bit and put more focus on the black man rather than the Doctor.
One of the reasons I like Doctor Who so much is that it seems, where possible, they cast black people in significant supporting roles. I don’t know so much how they fared in the original/classic series, but ever since the 9th Doctor in 2005, they have brought us some great companions and associates.
Mickey Smith, Rose’s boyfriend, is one of my favorites.
But let’s not forget Martha Jones!
And they later were shown to have gotten married and became some sort of government agents. Perhaps with U.N.I.T.
Now, I did observe somewhat of a dearth of blackness in the Matt Smith years and that really disappointed me. But with the coming of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor since the 50th anniversary, I have noticed an uptick in interesting supporting characters who happen to be black, Danny Pink notwithstanding. There was Saibra in Time Heist…
And Courtney Woods in Kill the Moon and a few other episodes.
These supporting characters, of course, don’t make up for the fact that there has never been a black Doctor Who (or a woman, but we are talking about black people right now). But as someone who has been knee-deep in science fiction and fantasy for most of my adult life, I do really appreciate the fact that modern Doctor Who doesn’t shy away from race-blind casting (which I personally think is race-aware, but no matter), or speaking to issues of race and class in its story lines. I seem to recall an episode where the Doctor schooled Martha on free blacks in London prior to the abolition of the slave trade. (Or did I make that up?)
For people interested in further discussion of Doctor Who and race, you should get the book Doctor Who and Race! I definitely plan to. Of the twenty or so fans in the audience at last night’s screening, maybe four of us were black and there were no other people of color. It’s nice to know that there is some scholarship going on about this issue and it’s not just being swept under the rug.
Which makes me also wonder… in light of this Matt Damon/Effie Brown thing, I wonder if any people of color have directed episodes of Doctor Who? Definitely need to get the book!
American Ultra is the story of an underachieving, weed-smoking white guy who is a former CIA operative whose memories of his life as an agent have been wiped. When the CIA decides it’s time for him to be purged, his killer instincts kick in and he realizes he is more than he seems.
As I said in previous posts, I use MoviePass now so I can see a different movie every day for only $30 a month. I told my mom it’s like “use or lose” leave for the cinema. Since American Ultra was heavily advertised as a “stoner film” I had low expectations of seeing any black people.
Since I intentionally don’t do a whole lot of investigating before I choose the film I want to see, I was pleasantly surprised to see John Leguizamo. He is probably one of my favorite Latino actors and in my top five comedic actors/stand-up comedians of all time. I am talking all the way back to House of Buggin’ in 1995 on Fox!
But Leguizamo’s character troubled me. He said “nigga” an awful lot to the main character. I *think* I understood what the writers were trying to do. I mean, one would not expect a small town West Virginia hustler to be politically correct. And yes, I’ve seen plenty of Latinos say nigga (and it does not bother me) and I have seen black people call white people nigga (and it does not bother me). But there was something about John Leguizamo delivering these particular lines to this particular character that bothered me.
Maybe it’s because this guy, Max Landis, wrote American Ultra. Not exactly who I have in mind when I consider who has the agency to say nigga.
At any rate, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that John Leguizamo has a great body for a man of a certain age.
Which brings me to the black people who are in American Ultra. You already see Lavell Crawford pictured above. There was also Sam Malone, James Moses Black, and an actor who played one of the assets (not sure which one, but he had dreadlocks).
You know, considering I had low expectations, I was disappointed anyway. Unlike Vacation, which had stellar, but brief performances by Keegan-Michael Key and Regina Hall, the appearances by every black actor in American Ultra was forgettable. I don’t think the acting was bad, per se, but I think the dialogue was just blah–for the black actors as much as the rest of the entire cast.
You know, I really tried to like the film. It had a creative premise, fun action scenes, and believable performances by everyone, I suppose. And it was much more of an ensemble piece than I expected. But the plausibility of a plot is important to me, no matter how far-out it might be. Could it happen? If it could happen, is the script making me believe it? Are the actors?
In this case, I think the actors tried, but they couldn’t make a wack script hot.
At the end of the day, I could have randomly caught this on cable and enjoyed it. I left the theater feeling annoyed.
So yes, American Ultra has black people in it–but it might as well not.
There were a million and one ways Hollywood could have messed this movie up.
Thankfully, they did not. They started by having the presence of mind to cast black actors in the role of actual black people.
They don’t always get that right. But this time they did.
There are a lot of black people in this film.
Ironically, but perhaps authentically, a many of the stadium concert scenes were filled with white extras in the seats. I found that somewhat odd, but I never went to an NWA concert as a child, so perhaps that was accurate. It is a fact (don’t ask for sources) that hip-hop earned its wealth through album sales in the white suburbs. So the concert scenes in this film were a very subtle, but powerful nod to that idea.
When I first heard there would be an NWA movie, I was scared that it would be wack. Now that I’ve seen it, I am truly happy with how it was done! Most, if not all of the roles were cast perfectly. To me, the standout was Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, but every actor did a good job. I was very happy to see Aldis Hodge as well–it’s just a shame that it was in the relatively small role of MC Ren.
As is the theme of my reviews, I reiterate that there are black people in this film. However, you will not see many black women. Although the ones you do see are depicted positively (Dr. Dre’s mom as well as the partners of the NWA leads), you will not see a conversation about the misogyny of the era and of the genre. While that’s a disappointment, I don’t think social justice warriors would be disappointed in the authentic portrayal of the meaning of NWA as a moment in time, especially juxtaposed against the Rodney King verdict and ensuing riots.
I liked this film. I really did. I encourage you all to see it while it is in theaters.
I recently saw the film Vacation, a continuation of the National Lampoon’s Vacation franchise from the 80s. It was not very good. But there were black people in it, namely Keegan-Michael Key and Regina Hall! They were pretty good.
Sorry I don’t have much else to say. Wasn’t a good film or a good use of black folks. It was the typical “Black neighbor/friends juxtaposed against kooky white family” for a scene. Oh well, maybe next time!
I try to only support those films and television shows that have black characters, preferably in leading roles. I don’t dislike white people. I just really make a conscious effort to support art, culture, and media that is reflective of my experience and that of my people. I think something happens to the souls of people of color when they don’t see themselves.
So when I signed up for MoviePass, the service which allows you to see as many movies as there are days in the month for a small monthly fee, I knew I was going to have to see “white” films if I was going to get my money’s worth.
The first film I saw was Trainwreck with Amy Schumer. I had wanted to see Dope, but that had already left my local theater. Gallows was also on my list, but it got terrible reviews. So Trainwreck it was. I literally knew nothing about the movie except it was supposed to be some sort of bawdy romantic comedy with some familiar faces from Saturday Night Live and some cameos and walk-ons from other celebrities I was familiar with.
Since you can get full reviews elsewhere, I will just share the three most important things:
No, it wasn’t a predominately black cast, but I enjoyed not only the portrayal of the black people who were present, but the real (if not awkward) discussions of race among the white people in the movie. There were a few jokes that were related to black folks/hip-hop/urban culture that clearly flew over the heads of many in my theater, but earned hearty guffaws from the people of color sitting near me.
Look out for LeBron James, Method Man, Leslie Jones, Tim Meadows, Amar’e Stoudemire, and a few others making notable appearances.
Again, it was a great movie and I am glad it kicked off my MoviePass experience. (And if you want to try MoviePass, please click on the link to use my referral code.)
A few months ago, I watched a film called Rag Tag that had been in my Amazon wish list for literally years. I hadn’t made a point of watching it because I hadn’t been given any particular recommendations to do so. But thank goodness for Netflix.
I apologize for the sparseness of this review. I had really, really intended to write a review within a week of watching it. Then life happened. Oops.
So Rag Tag is essentially a gay black love story set in the UK. Basic premise: two boys who are best friends are separated in their adolescence and reunited in their early to mid 20s. Both have lived their lives trying to conform to heteronormativity, but have failed because they were essentially in search of one another.
The bad news is that this is a low-budget film which often looks like it. But isn’t that the case with so many pieces of art that emerge in support of the black gay aesthetic? Drawing on my own experience, I know that my first novel Lazarus was not a masterpiece, but it remains a sentimental favorite for many of the readers who knew me way back when.
Similarly, Rag Tag is not perfect, but it is necessary. There is a dearth of black gay romance on television and in film, so this movie fills the void (somewhat). It feels authentic. It feels right.
As a bonus, the viewer will also get to see this story unfold on two continents, neither of which includes the Americas. The portion of the story centering on Africa drags at times, but it so important in deepening the story of Rag and Tag.
Rag Tag didn’t win any Academy Awards, but it did remind me that it will have a special place in the hearts of every black gay boy who needed to see themselves depicted in a positive and realistic way.
Find it on your favorite streaming video platform or be a pal to the filmmakers and purchase the DVD.