African American – We Are Movie Geeks

ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT – SLIFF Review

*Sheila Atim in ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT. Photo Credit: Jaclyn Martinez. Courtesy of A24*

ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT offers a visually beautiful mediation on childhood, family and love, that begins with sisters growing in a lushly green rural Mississippi landscape, and then reaches into adulthood. The film is more a lyrical poem to a time and place, than a plot-driven drama, so it is best enjoyed when you can just embrace it’s dreamy memories of childhood friendship, warm family moments and young bittersweet romance, and let the lovely imagery and dreamy feeling float you downstream.

This lovely, dreamy piece of cinema art was written and directed by award-winning poet, photographer and filmmaker Raven Jackson, making her feature film debut. It is a lyrical film that powerfully evokes its place and time, and the people in that landscape.

Shot on 35mm film, ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT is filled to the brim with lovely, beautifully-composed, evocative images but little dialog, as it follows a Black woman named Mackenzie, nicknamed Mack, as she grows up, comes of age and matures, among family and friends in rural Mississippi. Mack is particularly close to her sister Josie and her childhood friend Wood, later a crush, as they grow up largely outdoors. Rather than being strictly linear, the film jumps around in time, showing us scenes of young Mack fishing with her father Isaiah (Chris Chalk), being cradled as a baby by her mother Evelyn (Sheila Atim), warm memories of little girl hugs with grandma, and reconnecting with her now-grown childhood crush.

The focus is on the natural world, and on human feelings and bonds, whether childhood joys and new discoveries or moments of grief and heartbreak, throughout a life. The writer/director was inspired partly by her own family, particularly her mother’s and grandmother’s roots in Mississippi, and aimed to make a film about family and knowledge and more that is handed down generation to generation. The film’s title comes from a poem Raven Jackson wrote, based on the tradition of rural Southern Black women eating clay dirt, a practice carried from West Africa, where it is still found today. There is a scene in the film where young Mack helps the women in her family extract just the right kind of clay from roadside clay banks.

We see the main character Mack at various ages but Charlene McClure plays her in the majority of scenes, between teenage and her thirties. Like the dream-like photography, McClure and the rest of the cast give moving performances, as the actors convey complex emotions with little dialog. Several scenes feature long, warm hugs, with a rocking motion the gives a feeling of dancing. The focus is on the feeling.

If you are looking for a plot that moves along briskly, this film is not for you. ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT is much more about feeling, about a sense of place and human connections, than it is about story (although there is one), more like a cinematic poem than a narrative tale, which seems fitting for a poet. One has to enjoy the journey and the scenery along the way, more than be in a hurry to reach its destination, to enjoy this visually lovely film. That means it is not for everyone but it is a wonderful immersion for the right audience.

ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT was shown as part of the 2023 St. Louis International Film Festival and opens in theaters on Friday, Nov. 17.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

SILVER DOLLAR ROAD – Review

As the year-end holidays start to become everyone’s main focus here’s a documentary feature that zeros in on the desired destination of travelers…home. But what if it’s denied you? Is it worth fighting for, even risking imprisonment? That’s the focus of this film, the value of the home, and most importantly the land. Sounds a bit similar to the epic docudrama arriving today from Martin Scorsese, eh? Now, that’s set one hundred years ago with murder stemming from a lust for oil-rich land. This doc concerns the lust for water, rather than oil. It’s a valued beachfront property. Plus it all happened in the last dozen or so years. Despite all the nefarious plans of developers, could anyone possibly displace the families on SILVER DOLLAR ROAD?

Oh, and unlike the other big film this weekend, we’re not talking about a tribe, but another minority. The family at this story’s core descended from slavery in North Carolina. A son of a slave, Mitchell Reels, bought 65 marshy wooded acres that led right to the shore of the ocean inlet. Rather than selling off the property, Reeves kept it in the family with each new generation setting up homes on that trail that ended at the shore, which was dubbed Silver Dollar Road. The modest homes were a paradise to the distant relatives who would go there for Summer vacations. But recently the development groups turned their attention to that valuable area, as neighboring towns were transformed into getaway mansions complete with docks for yachts and speedboats, all for the wealthy folks from the northern states. Finally, the Adams Creek reps made their move with a sold deed from a distant relative giving them ownership of land owned by two brothers, Licurtis Reels and Melvin Davis. The duo were charged with trespassing, found guilty In Carteret, and sent to jail rather than paying the hefty fine. The family tried to hire new legal teams with no luck and left with big legal fees. As the years pass the family begins to lose any hope of bringing the brothers home and keeping the corporations from grabbing their inherited land.

Veteran documentary filmmaker Raoul Peck has crafted a compelling emotional family saga from the ProPublica investigation by Lizzie Pressler. To illustrate the complex family tree Peck makes creative use of animation graphics for the ever-expanding branches and later renders family portraits in a warm pastel/chalk style along with the long incarceration of the brothers. In the engaging first half, we see a wondrous mix of old 8mm home movies and fading polaroids. The film’s strength is gleaned from the one-on-one interviews with the expressive family members themselves. Most memorable may be the woman we meet in the opening moments as Gertrude Reels is celebrating her 90+ birthday (she even takes a hike in the woods to lay out the family property for us). There are even a few moments of vintage 1970s video of the TV show “Soul Train” as Licurtis recalls the good times at his nightclub/dancehall “Fantasy Island”. But the funky tunes fade as the outsiders swoop in and the doc’s tone echos the frustration and outrage as justice is thwarted. Nearly a decade for trespassing in this day and age is almost brutal in its cruelty (the men wore shackles ala their slave forefathers). Almost as infuriating are the tales of greedy unethical lawyers who lined their pockets with the family’s meager savings. It’s a fascinating story that may raise your blood pressure a bit (or a lot). This is terrific film journalism and a rousing cry for legal reform and just compensation for the unbroken defiant families of SILVER DOLLAR ROAD.

3 Out of 4

SILVER DOLLAR ROAD streams exclusively on Amazon Prime Video

WAVES – Review

*(L-R) Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, Sterling K. Brown, Renée Elise Goldsberry in WAVES. Courtesy of A24*

One might call WAVES a family drama but that fails to capture the emotional tsunami that this outstanding film truly is.

The story is set in South Florida but the title has little to do with the shoreline. Instead, the waves are more the emotional kind, ebbing and flowing through the tides of life, sometimes gentle and soothing, sometimes rough and buffeting, and at times threatening to overwhelm and knock us off our feet.

Writer/director Trey Edward Shults uses a dynamic, kinetic camera and a pounding score to place us right in the emotional heart of this story of an upper middle-class African American family in South Florida. From the outside, the family looks perfect with everything going for them – two happily married successful parents, two teenage children, the oldest of which, the son, with a particularly bright future. They have every reason for hope and optimism.

An opening scene sets the film’s powerful, immersive tone. With a rotating camera inside a car, we travel along a causeway over the ocean as the teenage son in the family, Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and his friends laugh and clown around. The effect is both expansive and claustrophobic, creates an immediacy and high tension, and hooks us immediately.

The drama focuses primarily on the two teenagers, Tyler and his quieter younger sister Emily (Taylor Russell) more than the parents, dad Ronald (Sterling K. Brown) and step mother Catherine (Renee Elise Goldsberry). It centers on each teen individually by turns, rather in the relationship with each other, an interesting approach to its exploration of family dynamics and this family’s journey. The film is essentially divided into two parts, centered first on the son, then the daughter, with a shattering event as the pivot point between the two threads.

The first half is built around Tyler and his relationship with his domineering father Ronald (Sterling K Brown). A promising scholar-athlete with a bright future, Tyler is the family star and Dad drills him relentlessly like a coach, pushing him to succeed as a wrestler and setting high standards for him in all aspects of life. In one scene, Dad has one over several intense talks with his son. “We are not afforded the luxury of being average,” he cautions him. “I push you because I have to.” Good intentions are there but the pressure is enormous.

The family appears happy as well as prosperous, with everything going for them, but there are hidden internal strains, mostly from the pressure and expectations Ronald places on his talented son. Tyler has a lot going for him – a star on the wrestling team, scholarship prospects, lots of friends and a beautiful girlfriend, Alexis (Alexa Demie). Tyler obediently complies with Dad’s strict drills, striving to please his father but the weight he feels is clearly heavy. Out of Dad’s sight, he is testing boundaries, and the contrast creates an edgy tension to the film. Director Shults further pumps up this tension with restless hand-held photography and a camera that follows the son around very closely, as he goes about his life as a popular high school student.

The tension in this drama, and its sense of foreboding, is worthy of a thriller. That effect is greatly amplified by a searing, pounding score, brilliantly crafted by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. We know something is going to happen to upset this family’s idyll and shatter dreams, but we are unsure exactly what that will be. As Tyler engages in the kinds of pushing-the-boundaries behaviors of often associated with male adolescence – too many friends and distractions while he is driving, sneaking over to his girlfriend’s house, going to a party where the parents are out of town, drinking and other misbehavior – there is a feeling of an accelerating pace. As that pace increases. we wonder which of these might lead to the tragedy we know is coming. When it does come, Sterling K. Brown’s reactions as the father are riveting, a complicated mix of disbelief, heartache and guilt, played out across his face.

After tragedy strikes, the drama shifts its focus to the daughter Emily, but the whole tone of the film shifts as well. It changes from the frenetic pace and high tension of Tyler’s life and personality, to the quiet stillness of Emily’s, as she copes with jumbled emotions in the aftermath of what has happened. While all the cast is good, Taylor Russell is a revelation, creating a compelling and intimate inner life for her character, and a far deeper and more layered portrait than we expect, allowing Russell to dominate the screen in her own fashion. In this second part, Lucas Hedges provides strong support to her work, in a fine performance as Emily’s new boyfriend Luke.

It is an impressive film, with director Shults masterfully blending a dynamic visual style, insistent score and excellent performances with strong storytelling, each aspect reaching high levels but coalescing into a seamless whole. There is a striking immediacy in this drama, a relentless pull to its personal stories, and an overwhelming sense of immersion in their lives, that far exceeds most family dramas. The film is more about the personal and inner life than events themselves, about the human emotions around it. The camera keeps us close to the characters so that we feel a part of their inner lives without the need for them to speak. Although a tragedy is the center of the plot, WAVES is a film about hope, feelings, human connections, and life being lived, even in the wake of the unthinkable.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU – Review

*Lakeith Stanfield stars as Cassius Green in Boots Riley’s SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, an Annapurna Pictures release.*

Director/writer Boots Riley’s ambitious, inspired social satire SORRY TO BOTHER YOU sets its protagonist, a young black man trying to make a living as a telemarketer, in a world nearly like our own but imbued with the surreal, magical realism and even science fiction. The comedy is excellent but the director also makes hold-no-punches points about our country’s unequal economic system.

Bitingly funny, creative and intelligent, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU is a welcome breeze shaking up the summer doldrums and our comfortable assumptions.

Lakeith Stanfield is outstanding as Cassius Green, a likable African American every-man living in Oakland, California, who is struggling to just trying to pay the rent but ambitious to get ahead in life. His girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson) is an aspiring performance and visual artist but works a minimum job as a sign-twirler. Cassius drives a junker car and lives in his uncle’s garage, but the uncle is on the edge of foreclosure. Just in time, Cassius lands a job at a telemarketing firm, RegalView, but new opportunities really open up for him after an older worker named Langston, played by Danny Glover, tips him off to use his “white voice” (provided by David Cross) when selling to customers. Soon he’s making sales and he finds himself conflicted between moving up the corporate ladder and standing by his co-workers as they strike for better wages.

It’s a classic conundrum but Riley uses it as a springboard that takes us through some unusual twists that touch on race, capitalism, prisons, economic opportunity, artists, and other social issues in a fearless and effective fashion. Cassius finds himself lifted from poverty into wealth and material comfort but also finds himself at odds with his own values.

The “white voice” that Cassius and other black characters use are supplied by actors Patton Oswalt, David Cross and Rosario Dawson. Riley mines the “white voice” thing for comedy gold, but never loses the pointed nature of the joke.

This film is the feature film debut for Riley, the head of San Francisco Bay area hip-hop collective The Coup. The film met with critical acclaim when it debuted at Sundance and has been highly anticipated by film buffs.

One can see some parallels with GET OUT but this production was well underway when that film came out. The film starts out in the similar territory as workplace comedy OFFICE SPACE but gets much more surreal as it goes, particularly after Cassius discovers a sinister plan by the company’s celebrity CEO. In an inspired bit of casting, Armie Hammer plays billionaire CEO Steve Lift, a creepy performance that is perhaps Hammer’s best. Another company the billionaire is involved in is called WorryFree, a combination workplace and housing “option” marketed to working people but which looks a lot like prison and offers life-long contract that sounds a lot like slavery.

The director is aided greatly by lead Lakeith Stanfield and a strong supporting cast that includes Omari Hardwick, Jermaine Fowler, Steven Yeun, and Terry Crews. Stanfield seems to be having a moment now. More audiences might recognize him from his small but affecting part in GET OUT but he also delivered a remarkable performance in the less-seen but moving CROWN HEIGHTS, a true-story drama about a young Caribbean immigrant falsely convicted of a crime whose childhood friend fights for years to free him. Stanfield should have received more attention for that affecting performance but perhaps this role will give this gifted actor the fame he deserves.

Sometimes comedy can say hard things more effectively than if they are said directly, as anyone who has seen DR. STRANGLOVE can attest. SORRY TO BOTHER YOU starts out with laugh-out-loud comedy and pointed situations and visual jokes anyone might recognize, but then the film goes deeper. And deeper – down a rabbit hole that runs under our socioeconomic structure, until Cassius Green is Alice in a nightmarish Wonderland that is a fun-house mirror of our own.

This sharp-witted comedy touches on social media, twisted reality-show entertainment, and makes other social commentary in a pointed but comically effective fashion. Where director/writer Boots Riley might lose some audience members is when the film veers directly in science fiction, with an uncomfortable turn that some, particularly black audiences, might find disturbing. Others will follow along with the director in this risky move.

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU is not perfect but it is pretty darn good, a brilliantly ambitious social satire that has the courage to say things about this society that need saying. Boots Riley deserves credit for his willingness to say what he has to say, even when it makes his audience uncomfortable, and Lakeith Stanfield deserves recognition for his winning performance as the ordinary/ not ordinary guy at the center of this excursion into modern madness.

RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

STEP – Review

*Tayla Solomon and the “Lethal Ladies of BLYSW”. Photo by Jay L. Clendenin. Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved*

The inspirational documentary STEP follows a girls’ step dance team at a Baltimore charter high school, both in their quest to win a big step dance competition and to get into college.

The story takes place in 2015, the shadow of the unrest and protests that gripped Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, and the documentary has echoes of Ferguson and Black Lives Matter as well. All of the girls in this documentary are African-American and low-income, but they are lucky in one way: their high school, which has a staff devoted to their success, Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women was founded in 2009 as a small girls-only high school with the mission to get every one of its low-income students into college.

Director Amanda Lipitz’s film centers on the high school’s step team, a form of percussive dance historically linked to African-American sororities and fraternities. The film spotlights three girls in particular, as they prepare for a step competition, complete their senior year, and apply for college.

That premise may sound like BRING IT ON but the Lipitz’s true story is more heart-tugging and uplifting than the familiar narrative suggests. STEP debuted at Sundance earlier this year, to positive reviews and warm audience response. Lipitz, a Baltimore native, offers a surprisingly enjoyable story of struggle, obstacles, determination and ambition sure to pull in an audience.

The documentary singles out three girls, Blessin Giraldo, Cori Grainger, and Tayla Solomon, but also puts a spotlight on two educators, the coach of the step team, Gari McIntyre, and their college adviser, Paula Dofat.

The girls are all attractive and personable, so it is easy to root for their success, both in winning the step competition and getting into the college of their choice. The film gives us time with each girl’s family, with their coach and college adviser, and often lets the girls speak for themselves. But what we see little of are other pressures the girls face – in the classroom, among peers, or in their neighborhoods.

At first, it seems success is assured for all three but as the documentary unfolds, cracks emerge in that facade as the girls struggle with family and relationship issues, and one girl in particular seems really at risk. The girls talk a good game but conversations with the adults indicate not all is as smooth as the girls’ brave, think-positive talk would suggest.

Blessin is the co-founder of the step team, a beautiful, charismatic young woman with poise and positive attitude. She looks to have all the elements for success but she has a troubled family situation, with an unreliable mother who has her own issues with violence. Blessin has big dreams about college but more trouble focusing on the more immediate goal of keeping up with school work.

The documentary spends a bit more time on Blessin’s story but also spotlights time to the other two. Cori is proud of her perfect grades and has her heart set on attending Johns Hopkins. But with no money, winning a full-ride scholarship is her only chance. Tayla seems the shy one, working hard in school and on the team, but embarrassed by her mother’s big outgoing personality and nonstop cheering for her only child. As a guard at prison, Tayla’s mother knows how important her daughter’s success is but sometimes comes on too strong.

Audiences cannot help but pull for these girls and admire their efforts but what more impressive is the school support. Both the coach and the college adviser give these girls constant help and direction, both cheering them on and pulling them aside when needed. They are there to pick the girls up when they fall, or to correct their course when they waver. It is ultimately up to the girls, but these two educators never quit, refusing to give up on the girls even in the face of an unreliable parent. These two are the kind of teachers one would wish for all students, but which we too rarely find.

As the dates of both the step competition and graduation approach, the documentary focuses more on the quest to get into college – and the challenge of paying for it – than on the dance routines. By the film’s end, Lipitz brings the two threads together, the goals of winning the step contest and getting into college, in an uplifting ending.

The girls’ journey touches our hearts but the real inspirational story is that of these two dedicated educators, who are the true heroes of STEP.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

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