Black Filmmakers Fail to Connect With White Viewer (Details at Eleven)
Tonight, I watched two movies made by African-American filmmakers, and despite their strengths, neither film worked for me.
Idlewild follows two parallel stories. Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton, who together form the music group "Outkast" in real life, here play best friends whose lives are shaped by a 1930s speak-easy known as the Church. Percival, Jr. (Benjamin) plays a shy but talented pianist and songwriter who falls in love with singer Angel Davenport, and predictably begins to feel conflicted about whether he should leave his unhappy but familiar life in Idlewild and pursue a musical career and romance with Angel. Meanwhile, Rooster (Patton) inherits the Church and immediately runs into trouble with a gangster who wants an ever-increasing cut from the profits.
Both stories hit every cliche in the book, as they almost should, since it seems to be a celebration of movie formula, and of the fact that style can triumph over substance. Idlewild is nothing if not skillfully made. The choreography by Hinton Battle (which inventively incorporates era-specific dance styles), the cinematography by Pascal Ribaud (which captures color so lushly, it becomes a character in itself), the direction by Bryan Barber (who shows a real flair for creative storytelling), and the production design by Charles Breen (which flawlessly captures the period detail) are all amazing. Andre Benjamin also deserves kudos for creating Percival as a convincing and likable character light years removed from Benjamin's persona as Andre 3000 from Outkast.
The film's biggest flaw is that it's a musical, and the musical numbers are terrible. Yes, I've noted that they are choreographed and directed well, but it's the music itself that is so bad. If you're a fan of Outkast, you'll like this movie. Barber cut his teeth directing Outkast music videos, and Benjamin's and Patton's characters perform their musical numbers as if they forgot they're in the 30s. The anachronism of hip hop music is fun for one number, but becomes annoying and distracting as the film continues. Furthermore, Benjamin's falsetto grates like nails on a chalkboard.
Idlewild ultimately fails to connect because it's a musical with bad music, which negates its many other strong points. All of Barber's neat tricks fail to compensate for the music, and Benjamin's strong but subtle performance is lost in the shuffle.
If Idlewild is an exercise of style over substance, it's the conflict between style and substance that forms the very heart of Spike Lee's socially confused satire Bamboozled. Lee tells the story of Peerless "Pierre" Delacroix, a black television writer who works for racist network executive Thomas Dunwitty. Interestingly, Lee has Michael Rapaport play Dunwitty as if he thinks he's black (using stereotypically black mannerisms and slang), and Damon Wayans play Delacroix as if he wants to be white. The Wayans performance is a serious miscall, basically a broad but completely humorless version of the "white boy" character he occasionally played on "In Living Color." It just doesn't work, and just when we're getting used to it, another character actually calls attention to it, outright asking Delacroix, "where'd you get that accent?" If Lee is trying to make a point here, the point is lost in the presentation.
But then again, that's the problem not just with Wayans's performance, but with the whole movie. The story involves Delacroix trying to get out of his contract by pitching a modern-day black-face minstrel show to Dunwitty. Delacroix figures that the idea is so offensive, he'll be fired on the spot, but his plan backfires spectacularly when his show is not only picked up, but becomes a cultural sensation.
The story may sound intriguing, but it's not original by any means; as one IMDb user comments, it's basically "an angry black version of The Producers."
Lee shoots himself in the foot by presenting the viewer with a concept that doesn't work in any capacity whatsoever. It's too absurd to work as tragedy, too angry to work as comedy, too disturbing to work as musical entertainment (despite the presence of dancing wunderkind Savion Glover), and, above all, too confused to work as a message film. What, exactly, is Lee's message? I just can't figure it out. He has plenty of targets in the film: blacks who act too "white," whites who act too "black," a culture that is too quick to embrace racism as long as it's profitable, and even blacks who use racial pride as an excuse for ignorance and violence. Regardless of whether these are worthy targets of satire, Lee doesn't seem to know what to say about these social issues. Lee has always relished in stirring up black anger and white guilt, but here he outdoes himself by perpetuating the very stereotypes he wants to rail against, as if modern audiences need to be chastized for forms of prejucide that are decades outdated.
Of the two films, Bamboozled creates the far greater sin. While Idlewild is steeped in the "black culture" of its storyline's period (there is not a single white character in the film, but one barely notices) Bamboozled presents a world which includes white characters, and, not surprisingly from Lee, every one of them is racist to one degree or another. Isn't this attitude a form of racism in itself?
Idlewild follows two parallel stories. Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton, who together form the music group "Outkast" in real life, here play best friends whose lives are shaped by a 1930s speak-easy known as the Church. Percival, Jr. (Benjamin) plays a shy but talented pianist and songwriter who falls in love with singer Angel Davenport, and predictably begins to feel conflicted about whether he should leave his unhappy but familiar life in Idlewild and pursue a musical career and romance with Angel. Meanwhile, Rooster (Patton) inherits the Church and immediately runs into trouble with a gangster who wants an ever-increasing cut from the profits.
Both stories hit every cliche in the book, as they almost should, since it seems to be a celebration of movie formula, and of the fact that style can triumph over substance. Idlewild is nothing if not skillfully made. The choreography by Hinton Battle (which inventively incorporates era-specific dance styles), the cinematography by Pascal Ribaud (which captures color so lushly, it becomes a character in itself), the direction by Bryan Barber (who shows a real flair for creative storytelling), and the production design by Charles Breen (which flawlessly captures the period detail) are all amazing. Andre Benjamin also deserves kudos for creating Percival as a convincing and likable character light years removed from Benjamin's persona as Andre 3000 from Outkast.
The film's biggest flaw is that it's a musical, and the musical numbers are terrible. Yes, I've noted that they are choreographed and directed well, but it's the music itself that is so bad. If you're a fan of Outkast, you'll like this movie. Barber cut his teeth directing Outkast music videos, and Benjamin's and Patton's characters perform their musical numbers as if they forgot they're in the 30s. The anachronism of hip hop music is fun for one number, but becomes annoying and distracting as the film continues. Furthermore, Benjamin's falsetto grates like nails on a chalkboard.
Idlewild ultimately fails to connect because it's a musical with bad music, which negates its many other strong points. All of Barber's neat tricks fail to compensate for the music, and Benjamin's strong but subtle performance is lost in the shuffle.
If Idlewild is an exercise of style over substance, it's the conflict between style and substance that forms the very heart of Spike Lee's socially confused satire Bamboozled. Lee tells the story of Peerless "Pierre" Delacroix, a black television writer who works for racist network executive Thomas Dunwitty. Interestingly, Lee has Michael Rapaport play Dunwitty as if he thinks he's black (using stereotypically black mannerisms and slang), and Damon Wayans play Delacroix as if he wants to be white. The Wayans performance is a serious miscall, basically a broad but completely humorless version of the "white boy" character he occasionally played on "In Living Color." It just doesn't work, and just when we're getting used to it, another character actually calls attention to it, outright asking Delacroix, "where'd you get that accent?" If Lee is trying to make a point here, the point is lost in the presentation.
But then again, that's the problem not just with Wayans's performance, but with the whole movie. The story involves Delacroix trying to get out of his contract by pitching a modern-day black-face minstrel show to Dunwitty. Delacroix figures that the idea is so offensive, he'll be fired on the spot, but his plan backfires spectacularly when his show is not only picked up, but becomes a cultural sensation.
The story may sound intriguing, but it's not original by any means; as one IMDb user comments, it's basically "an angry black version of The Producers."
Lee shoots himself in the foot by presenting the viewer with a concept that doesn't work in any capacity whatsoever. It's too absurd to work as tragedy, too angry to work as comedy, too disturbing to work as musical entertainment (despite the presence of dancing wunderkind Savion Glover), and, above all, too confused to work as a message film. What, exactly, is Lee's message? I just can't figure it out. He has plenty of targets in the film: blacks who act too "white," whites who act too "black," a culture that is too quick to embrace racism as long as it's profitable, and even blacks who use racial pride as an excuse for ignorance and violence. Regardless of whether these are worthy targets of satire, Lee doesn't seem to know what to say about these social issues. Lee has always relished in stirring up black anger and white guilt, but here he outdoes himself by perpetuating the very stereotypes he wants to rail against, as if modern audiences need to be chastized for forms of prejucide that are decades outdated.
Of the two films, Bamboozled creates the far greater sin. While Idlewild is steeped in the "black culture" of its storyline's period (there is not a single white character in the film, but one barely notices) Bamboozled presents a world which includes white characters, and, not surprisingly from Lee, every one of them is racist to one degree or another. Isn't this attitude a form of racism in itself?
posted by Movie Man at
4:52 AM
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