Dear White People
October. 17,2014 RFour college students attend an Ivy League college where a riot breaks out over an "African-American" themed party thrown by white students. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the film explores racial identity in 'post racial' America while weaving a story about forging one's unique path in the world.
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Reviews
Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Fresh and Exciting
Captivating movie !
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
This is not a perfect film but it is entertaining and interesting. But more importantly it is very necessary considering everything going on today plus I didn't even know some on the college campuses were actually hosting racist-a## parties like that. But anyway, the film has an excellent concept behind it but it is poorly executed. However, like I said before this is such an important topic and you do not see Hollywood doing anything about it until someone twists their arm. Long story short, a better director would have done a lot more with the material.
It's satire, so of course it's full of stereotypes. It's a pretty good show. You have to get through the first episode to realize it's a framework to build a story of all of their interactions and personal stories. It's semi-successful because mixing satire with a dramedy isn't really a thing that blends easy.
I thought that the movie started off being very humorous then slowly became more and more serious as it went on; heading towards the finish line it felt to me almost like a documentary on race and the consequences of racism and its inevitable reaction.The acting was generally very good, as were the production values and the story idea. I have watched Black-ish and am not sure if it is my imagination or not, but there seems to be a rise of race motivated comedy and satire: towards the end of the Obama-era and heading into Trump-time.As a Limey, I found the film hard to follow at points, due the large amount of American cultural references.I would say that it would not be everyone's' cup of tea and probably doesn't translate too well outside of the USA; but apart from that most American adults would probably find the film worth having a look at.
The most intriguing aspect of this film is not the film itself but the public's reaction to it. From multiple message boards I saw questions like if this is racist, a new Do the Right Thing, or if this film is even needed. From there it is clear that this film is doing something right. A great film does not try to make you agree with the issue but it raises the correct questions. It does not matter the answer the viewers got from the film as long as the viewers are asking the questions. After this film I too asked a lot of questions about race, and not about black cultures but of all different ones. The film does a really good job of balancing the four main characters, and while sometimes the characters seem more stereotypical, there are also couple of quirky aspect there as well that balances it out. Tessa Thompson as Sam White is the centerpiece of the movie, and she excels in her job as she does not overshadow the other characters but often compliments them. Lionel Higgins played by Tyler James Williams plays a very lovable character that faces not one, but two different prejudices. However in the film his skin colour dominates his sexual orientation making this feel more like a gimmick than a fully realized character sketch. Kyle Gallner as Kurt Fletcher and Teyonah Parris as Coco Conners rounds off the main characters and they too felt authentic in their role. Kurt's subplot with his father was very real but Coco's problem about wanting to be white felt so superficial. There is a lot of quirky shots as well, and for the first ten minutes I was hooked by it's use of documentary style shots of the various campuses throughout the school. Unfortunately the unique style dissipates after a while, and the film whilst beautiful filled with unique shots never goes back to the quirky, almost meta style it had before. I wish that the level of ingenuity remained throughout the movie. Overall the movie is fun and has different styles to keep you entertained and in the end you will want to ask all the right questions while leaving with very different answers.