Sanaa Lathan’s ‘One The Come’ Up Adds To the Black Girl Cinema Cannon (TIFF Review)

Aside from a few examples, Black girlhood has all been but ignored in the cinema landscape. There are a few outliers; Crooklyn, Alma’s Rainbow, Pariah, Selah, and the Spades, and Eve’s Bayou come to mind. However, if you consider Hollywood overall, Black teen girls don’t exist in their own stories. Sanaa Lathan’s directorial debut, On the Come Up, adds a much-needed tale to a very sparse catalog. Adapted from the critically acclaimed novel by Angie Thomas, On the Come Up follows 16-year-old Bri (vibrant newcomer Jamila Gray). The teen is trying to find her footing in the music world by stepping out of the shadow of her late father, who was killed just as his rap career was taking off.

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'The Last Shift' Never Gets To The Root Of The Issue

The 2016 Presidential election revealed just how divided America can be. Many people across the country seemingly voted against their best interests for a presidential nominee whose policies would do more harm than good for the average working-class American. The election showcased, yet again, how many people will cling on to hatred, bigotry and racism because the privileges of whiteness are the only things they have of value. 

In The Last Shift, filmmaker Andrew Cohn offers a birds-eye view of working-class, small-town America. The narrative showcases two lives that intersect, bringing about frustrating results.

Albion, Michigan is a town that the rest of America has forgotten. Stanley (Richard Jenkins) has lived there his entire life. He's worked the graveyard shift at Oscar's Chicken and Fish for the past 38-years, where he makes less than fifteen dollars an hour.

Stanley is exceptionally prideful about his life's choices. He's content in the grind of his daily work, his rented room in a flophouse and the evenings he spends playing darts and drinking Mountain Dew with his buddy Dale (Ed O'Neill). However, Stanley is ready for the next chapter of life. He's decided to retire from Oscar's, earn his driver's license and drive down to Sarasota, Florida to get his ailing mother out of her hellish nursing home. 

Before his final shift, Stanley's boss, Shazz (Dolemite Is My Name's Da'Vine Joy Randolph), has tasked him with training his replacement. Jevon (Shane Paul McGhie) is a young Black father who has recently been released from prison after defacing a public monument. He's full of lofty ideas about the world and has a passion for writing. However, his angst, aimlessness and the suffocating confines of Albion have left him feeling stuck with only the air mattress in his mom's house as a life raft.

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Da’Vine Joy Randolph On 'Dolemite Is My Name,' Bonding With Eddie Murphy And Becoming Ruth Carter's Muse

In the 1970s, comedian Rudy Ray Moore was forcefully pushed out of entertainment. Though he'd seen some minor success with a few albums and some work in comedy, doors quickly closed in his face. Against all rational sense, and with the money that he was able to piece together from family and friends, Moore reinvented himself as the character Dolemite, garnered major attention on the comedy stage and eventually made his own Blaxploitation film, Dolemite, off of the strength of his own tenacity.

Amid his come up, Moore met Lady Reed. She became his protégée, subverted Black female stereotypes of the Blaxploitation era and appeared in several films including Dolemite along with him. Now, Eddie Murphy along with Tony Award-nominated actress Da'Vine Joy Randolph, have immortalized Moore and Reed on the big screen with Netflix's Dolemite is My Name. 

Beautifully crafted, heartfelt and hilarious, Dolemite Is My Name carries an impactful message about following your dreams. Its robust cast, in addition to Murphy and Randolph, includes Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Tituss Burgess, Tip "T.I." Harris and Wesley Snipes. The ensemble brings a rich and very Black experience to the big screen.

At the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, Shadow And Act sat down with Randolph to talk about becoming Lady Reed, working with Murphy and the stunning costuming from the hands of the legendary Ruth Carter.

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Image: Netflix.