Colorism Is Just The Tip Of The Iceberg In 'Passing'

What we know of race, not ethnicity or culture, but race in and of itself is that it’s a manmade construct. Yet, it has defined so much of our lives, journeys, and experiences — especially in America. Bringing Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel Passing to the big screen, Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut is a visceral drama centering on race relations, colorism, jealously, anguish, and desire. 

Set in Harlem amid the renaissance of the 1920’s, Passing follows Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Rutha Negga), childhood friends who meet again by happenstance one blazing hot summer day in the posh tearoom of New York City’s Drayton Hotel. It should have been a warm reunion, filled with talks of girlhood and current undertakings. However, from the moment Clare catches Irene’s eye across the grandly decorated room, something sinister begins brewing between the two women. 

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'Sylvie's Love' Has The Immense Beauty Of An Old-Fashioned Romance

Black people have very few opportunities to see ourselves in sweeping romantic dramas like the films that used to dominate Old Hollywood. We've certainly had movies like Love Jones and Stella Meghie's forthcoming romantic drama, The Photograph. However, outside of Diana Ross' Mahogany and Lady Sings the Blues, films in the same romantic vein as Casablanca, An Affair to Remember and It Happened One Night, or even contemporary period pieces like The Notebook, have largely been reserved for white actors and storytellers within the tight confines of American Cinema's studio system. Now, we have Sylvie's Love.

Set in the summer of 1957, writer and director Eugene Ashe's aesthetically stunning Sylvie's Love is a sweeping old-fashioned romantic drama about missed moments, extraordinary love and staying true to yourself. Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha), a quiet but brilliant saxophonist, stumbles into Sylvie's (Tessa Thompson) world on a sweltering summer day in Harlem.

While Robert and his group, the "Dickie Brewster Quartet," are gaining traction in the music scene, Sylvie is stuck. With her fiancé Lacy (Alano Miller) overseas in Korea, the aspiring television producer spends her days watching I Love Lucy and Father Knows Best in her father's record shop. She entertains herself by lounging with her cousin Mona (Aja Naomi King) on the record shop's rooftop and dodging her bougie mother's lessons on being a lady.

From the moment Sylvie and Robert meet there is a spark. They experience that sizzle and connection that draws them to one another like magnets. The pair embark on a whirlwind summer romance, full of late-night dancing and stolen kisses. Yet, Sylvie's engagement ring is a constant reminder of their reality, especially when Robert and the quartet receive an opportunity to take their music to Paris. 

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‘Men in Black: International’ Is Charming, Witty & Mostly Fun

We all know that Hollywood lives for reboots and sequels. These days, original films and TV shows are almost an anomaly in the entertainment industry. Therefore, when Men in Black: International was announced, a film centering Tessa Thompon’s Agent M, and Chris Hemsworth’s Agent H–we were more than a little skeptical. After all, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones made the franchize iconic and walking in the footsteps of Agent J and Agent K was going to be an arduous task for anyone that wanted to follow. Thankfully, both Thompson and Hemsworth were up for the task. The pair had sizzled together on screen previously in Marvel’s Thor: Ragnorak and Avengers: Endgame. But putting them in the Men in Black Universe proved that their chemistry is transcendent.

Men in Black: International exists in the same realm as the first three films and follows a young woman named Molly (Thompson). As a child in the ’90s, Molly witnessed an alien creature wiggle its way into her Brooklyn home. Though the Men in Black quickly appeared to erase her parents’ memories, no one realized that Molly was awake to see the entire encounter. Some 22-years later, hyper-obsessed with the mega-secret alien-wrangling agency– Molly cleverly weasels her way into a black suit and those stunner shades.

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'Sorry To Bother You' Is Sharp, Surreal And Brilliantly Biting

At present, the future isn’t looking all that bright, and if we examine the alternative universe in Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, the near future looks even less promising. Set in Oakland, Riley’s whimsically boisterous satire focuses on Cassius Green (excellently portrayed by Lakeith Stanfield). Broke and desperate, Cassius is living in his uncle Sergio’s (Terry Crews) garage, aimlessly trying to find his purpose in life. His activist/artist fiancée, Detroit (Tessa Thompson), seems content in her present circumstances -- making artwork, protesting the blistering effects of capitalism and taking various odd jobs for cash. However, with his uncle facing foreclosure on his home, Cassius is desperate to live a more robust and financially stable life. Lacking any discernable skills or passions, Cassius snags a job at RegalView Telemarking. Plopped down in a dark, suffocating basement, Cassius struggles to bring in his commission-based pay. Luckily, after getting some advice from a more seasoned co-worker named Langston (Danny Glover), Cassius’ luck at work begins to change. He quickly rises the ranks – eventually becoming a coveted Power Caller in the building's penthouse under Mr. Blank (Omari Hardwick). Sorry to Bother You might seem straightforward, but its magic lies in Riley's writing and the writer/director's confidence and ambition.

Sharp and surreal, Cassius is jolted into the homes of the people that he’s calling, and that’s just the beginning of Riley's asymmetric take on storytelling. Langston’s advice is the real kicker. He instructs Cassius to use his “white voice” to bring in sales. A “white voice" isn’t simply a high pitched tone infused with proper grammar; Arrested Development’s David Cross speaks for Cassius when he opens his mouth – it’s pretty insane.

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In Nia DaCosta's Tessa Thompson-Starrer 'Little Woods,' Women Save Themselves (Tribeca Review)

Women are constantly underestimated – shoved in corners and preyed upon as if we’re supposed to shrink into ourselves and wait for someone (typically a man) to come save us. And yet, for as long as hardships have existed and sexist rules and regulations have tried to box us in, women have found ways to rebel against societal norms and write our own stories. In her feature film debut, Little Woods, writer/director Nia DaCosta tells the story of two women determined to make a better life for themselves. In the poverty-stricken and depressing town of Little Woods, North Dakota, DaCosta paints the story of two sisters, Ollie (Tessa Thompson) and Deb (Lily James) who are trying to piece together a life for themselves after the death of their mother. Scrappy and determined, Ollie has set up a coffee stand out of her pickup truck, serving hot beverages and sandwiches to the men working in the town's plant. It’s a long way away from her days as a prescription drug dealer -- a job she started out of necessity to help her ailing mother. As the final days of her probation loom, an opportunity for a new start elsewhere keep her determined to stay on the right path despite foreclosure notices on her mother's house and her sister Deb’s frantic cry for help.

Deb isn't faring much better than her sister. A single mother with a deadbeat drunken ex (James Badge Dale), she can’t make a sound decision to save her life. Desperate for her independence and yet hopelessly reliant on her sister for help, Deb is too overwhelmed to think straight, and it’s up to Ollie to save her and her young son.

Little Woods is a bold feminist tale of sisterhood, tenacity and the weariness of being female in a world always trying to harm you. Set against the sparse but immensely beautiful Great Plains, DaCosta paints an empathetic portrait of America's opioid problem. For Ollie, selling drugs becomes a means of survival. However, she suffers in a constant state of anxiety, and she finds herself in the crosshairs of Bill (Luke Kirby), Little Woods' big-time drug dealer whose volatile outbursts leave her on edge. The nation's broken healthcare system is also a major thread in this film. Affordable healthcare and prescriptions are difficult to come by in general. The impoverished folks in Little Woods have it worse. Women, in particular, have no real access to complete healthcare and abortion services because North Dakota is a conservative state -- despite 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling.

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