Uncategorized
So many things happened in the summer of 1969. Nixon pulled troops out of Vietnam, the gay community rioted at Stonewall, the United States landed on the moon, boxing champion Muhammad Ali was convicted of evading the draft, Charles Manson carried out his murderous plot, and protest music played at Woodstock, to name a few. From June 29 to August 24, there was another event that brought over 300,000 people, the majority of them Black, to a park in Harlem. A summer concert series, known as the Harlem Cultural Festival, brought droves of Black people to Mount Morris Park in a celebration that embraced everything good in the Black community. It was free to all, had some of the best performers, embraced Black culture, and it was forgotten.
This year at Sundance, it was a delight and a pleasure to see the documentary, Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, it is truly a feature to behold. There is so much love, respect, and admiration for the music, the community, and the culture in this documentary. In his directorial debut, Thompson has created the best Black history presentation I have seen in a while. What I thought would be a beginning-to-end run of the music festival turned out to be a culmination of music, history, and an outstandingly researched and navigated documentary. The film gave me insight into how people were feeling in the summer of 1969, and it is a feeling the Black community is reliving right now. This film could not come at a better time.
The editing in this film is beautiful. It flows with precision and amplifies the emotional gravitas. The footage of the festival weaves in and out of history like a creative and cool music history lesson. Editor Joshua L. Pearson shows the audience not only footage of the festival but also footage from some of history’s most powerful moments layered with amazing sound. Black history is told and recreated through the lens of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Summer of Soul shows the change in style and music and shows the cultural revolution that took place. It’s a rare experience to be able to see all of this unfold amidst musical performances.
While documentaries can hardly be praised for their acting, the interviews in Summer of Soul are well done. The pure reactions of artists seeing themselves perform over fifty years ago on that stage in Harlem was emotional. They got teary-eyed, so I got teary-eyed. Some of these folks I have never heard of, but they are still alive and well and getting a chance to talk about their musical journey and what music means to them. Music is such a big part of the African American culture and to see it highlighted on screen in an educational and entertaining way is one of the reasons people should see this documentary.
The music in this film is mesmerizing. I wish I could attend a music festival with acts like that. The music shows the range of Black artists, spanning across genres. Artists featured included favorites like Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, David Ruffin, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Sly and the Family Stone, and Nina Simone. It was a true celebration of African American music and culture and promoted Black pride and unity. Music is the soundtrack, the protagonist, and the setting. Music is highlighted as a truly universal language. There were a few groups in this film I’d never heard of, but you can be sure I downloaded some oldies but goodies by the end of the movie.
The themes of this film are far more important than I anticipated going in. What you see when you look at Summer of Soul are highlights of what is important to the African American community. The audience at the Harlem Cultural Festival was full of Black people coming together. We weren’t the minority in this park at that time. All ages were present. Families, friends, colleagues, strangers, neighbors, were all together dancing, smiling, and laughing. Community encompassed more than just the people who lived on the same block. It was a highlight of fellowship and a sense of belonging. It was widely vibrant and beautiful to see. As one attendee said in the film, “It smelt like Afro-sheen and chicken.” You may laugh, but it sure does bring about an image of happiness, beautiful memories, and a lifestyle all our own. People wanted to be in this moment so much, they resorted to sitting in the trees. Food vendors lined the outside of the park right next to someone’s momma frying chicken and collard greens. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?
Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) shows us this epic event that happened. It’s emotional knowing something so amazing happened, and this is the first time so many are hearing about it. It’s such a positive moment to associate with Black people. Why didn’t we get the chance to add it to history until now? The Harlem Cultural Festival was held at the right time in the right place. I think now, it is being shown at a crucial time in history when tensions are high and positivity is needed.
Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) made its debut at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and will screen again on January 30th. For tickets, go to the festival website here.
So many things happened in the summer of 1969. Nixon pulled troops out of Vietnam, the gay community rioted at Stonewall, the United States landed on the moon, boxing champion Muhammad Ali was convicted of evading the draft, Charles Manson carried out his murderous plot, and protest music played at Woodstock, to name a few. From June 29 to August 24, there was another event that brought over 300,000 people, the majority of them Black, to a park in Harlem. A summer concert series, known as the Harlem Cultural Festival, brought droves of Black people to Mount Morris Park in a celebration that embraced everything good in the Black community. It was free to all, had some of the best performers, embraced Black culture, and it was forgotten.
This year at Sundance, it was a delight and a pleasure to see the documentary, Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, it is truly a feature to behold. There is so much love, respect, and admiration for the music, the community, and the culture in this documentary. In his directorial debut, Thompson has created the best Black history presentation I have seen in a while. What I thought would be a beginning-to-end run of the music festival turned out to be a culmination of music, history, and an outstandingly researched and navigated documentary. The film gave me insight into how people were feeling in the summer of 1969, and it is a feeling the Black community is reliving right now. This film could not come at a better time.
The editing in this film is beautiful. It flows with precision and amplifies the emotional gravitas. The footage of the festival weaves in and out of history like a creative and cool music history lesson. Editor Joshua L. Pearson shows the audience not only footage of the festival but also footage from some of history’s most powerful moments layered with amazing sound. Black history is told and recreated through the lens of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Summer of Soul shows the change in style and music and shows the cultural revolution that took place. It’s a rare experience to be able to see all of this unfold amidst musical performances.
While documentaries can hardly be praised for their acting, the interviews in Summer of Soul are well done. The pure reactions of artists seeing themselves perform over fifty years ago on that stage in Harlem was emotional. They got teary-eyed, so I got teary-eyed. Some of these folks I have never heard of, but they are still alive and well and getting a chance to talk about their musical journey and what music means to them. Music is such a big part of the African American culture and to see it highlighted on screen in an educational and entertaining way is one of the reasons people should see this documentary.
The music in this film is mesmerizing. I wish I could attend a music festival with acts like that. The music shows the range of Black artists, spanning across genres. Artists featured included favorites like Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, David Ruffin, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Sly and the Family Stone, and Nina Simone. It was a true celebration of African American music and culture and promoted Black pride and unity. Music is the soundtrack, the protagonist, and the setting. Music is highlighted as a truly universal language. There were a few groups in this film I’d never heard of, but you can be sure I downloaded some oldies but goodies by the end of the movie.
The themes of this film are far more important than I anticipated going in. What you see when you look at Summer of Soul are highlights of what is important to the African American community. The audience at the Harlem Cultural Festival was full of Black people coming together. We weren’t the minority in this park at that time. All ages were present. Families, friends, colleagues, strangers, neighbors, were all together dancing, smiling, and laughing. Community encompassed more than just the people who lived on the same block. It was a highlight of fellowship and a sense of belonging. It was widely vibrant and beautiful to see. As one attendee said in the film, “It smelt like Afro-sheen and chicken.” You may laugh, but it sure does bring about an image of happiness, beautiful memories, and a lifestyle all our own. People wanted to be in this moment so much, they resorted to sitting in the trees. Food vendors lined the outside of the park right next to someone’s momma frying chicken and collard greens. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?
Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) shows us this epic event that happened. It’s emotional knowing something so amazing happened, and this is the first time so many are hearing about it. It’s such a positive moment to associate with Black people. Why didn’t we get the chance to add it to history until now? The Harlem Cultural Festival was held at the right time in the right place. I think now, it is being shown at a crucial time in history when tensions are high and positivity is needed.
Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) made its debut at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and will screen again on January 30th. For tickets, go to the festival website here.
If you’re not glued to Hollywood casting news, you might have missed the part where Twilight and Happiest Season actress Kristen Stewart was cast as Britain’s Princess Diana in the movie Spencer. Well, she was, and now we have our first promo look at Stewart playing the People’s Princess.
Here’s a first look at Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana in #Spencer, Pablo Larraín’s imagining of the weekend Princess Diana decides to leave her marriage to Prince Charles. pic.twitter.com/LSn4C7cF0h
— IMDb (@IMDb) January 27, 2021
Stewart’s casting took some heat when it was first announced, mostly due to the fact that one of the most iconic British people in modern history would be played by an American. As you can see from the above shot, she’s definitely committing to the bit, and makes for a convincing Diana visually. The movie is coming from Chilean director Pablo Larraín, who directed Natalie Portman’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in a similar biopic style in Jackie. Larraín had previously explained his decision to cast Stewart, per Glamour UK:
“To do this well, you need something very important in film, which is mystery, Kristen can be many things, and she can be very mysterious and very fragile and ultimately very strong as well, which is what we need,” Larrain told entertainment news site Deadline.
The film’s director also spoke about Stewart’s qualities on camera. “As a filmmaker, when you have someone who can hold such a weight, dramatic and narrative weight just with her eyes, then you have the strong lead who can deliver what we are looking for.”
Spencer won’t be a comprehensive take on Lady Diana Spencer’s life but rather a sort of zoomed-in look at one particular stretch of days in which the Wales’ imploding marriage further imploded. The film will focus on the royal holiday weekend at Sandringham Estate in 1992: “Over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, Diana realises that her marriage is breaking down and that she doesn’t want to be the future Queen.” Other than Stewart’s central part, no other roles have been announced yet, though IMDb has Sally Hawkins, Sean Harris, and Timothy Spall on its Spencer cast list.
Steven Knight, the creator of the excellent/nail-biting British period crime drama series Peaky Blinders, is on board as screenwriter, an aspect that makes me all the more interested in this movie. I’m keen to see how Knight’s trademark edgy, foul-mouthed, razor-sharp tone translates over to this topic. I’m also curious whether the popular Netflix series The Crown’s recent foray into this same time period has whet the audience appetite for more of the story or made them feel like they’ve seen it all already. I thought actress Emma Corrin did a fantastic job embodying Diana in The Crown, so it will be interesting to see Stewart’s interpretation.
I think Stewart is a talented actress, though it’s a bit difficult to imagine her as Diana, if only because she hasn’t done this sort of “prestige biopic” feature before. (Though she did star in JT Leroy, so biopics are not totally new.) If this works, it will likely be considered a transformative turn that could net her many awards and plaudits. Stewart is also quite the online LGBTQ+ icon these days, and has a loyal following of fans who will be excited to see what she has in store. This casting seems like a bit of a gamble, but it just might pay off. What do you think of Stewart’s look?
(image: Summit Entertainment)
Here are some other things we saw today:
- Iconic actress Cloris Leachman has died at age 94. Leachman worked on stage and shone on TV and film screens, winning eight Emmys and an Academy Award for The Last Picture Show. She was also a standout on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, and many, many, many memorable roles. (via ABC News)
- This is so cool: a site dedicated to the historical language of science fiction—and lets you look up when certain futuristic terms were first used—has just launched. (via BoingBoing)
- The Great Gatsby is apparently getting a TV adaptation, and while I’m incredibly excited about the promised inclusivity in terms of diversity and LGBTQ+ representation, I also wish we could let this story die and find another. Gatsby seems all but unadaptable. Let him rest. (via Vulture)
- Senator Patrick Leahy, who is set to preside over Trump’s impeachment trial, was taken to the hospital “in an abundance of caution,” and has since been released. (via HuffPo)
-
A number of people who are now on a to-do list have sent me the below grotesque image today. My take is that whoever’s responsible needs to go directly to the bzzzt chair. https://t.co/MWuljLiuc8
— Scott Wampler™ (@ScottWamplerBMD) January 27, 2021
- Bridgerton was the most-watched series in Netflix history. (via Yahoo Entertainment)
- If you’ve heard about the mystery of Elisa Lam and LA’s sinister Cecil Hotel, this upcoming Netflix true crime series, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is for you. It looks great—I got goosebumps.
What did you see out there today? Trade any stocks?
twitter right now: pic.twitter.com/Hclezfy5Th
— penne benne (@pasta_ben) January 27, 2021
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
The post Things We Saw Today: Your First Look at Kristen Stewart as … Princess Diana? first appeared on The Mary Sue.Malcolm & Marie is a really good short that keeps going for another hour and twenty minutes. The artistic endeavor, the result of Covid-era boredom and big Hollywood money, is indulgent and claustrophobic. The first and last twenty minutes do hit as Zendaya gives us the best that she’s got. But is it worth the wait? The specter of the disease that’s shut down most of the world and keeps us apart looms, a ghost haunting the edges of our vision as we settle in for an extended domestic dispute laid out in black and white on 35mm film. It felt like hearing a listener letter on The Read and being a kid listening to my parents fighting throughout the house all night. If that sounds like a good time to you—and I say this with 0 judgment…mostly—then this is the nearly two-hour watch for you.
“Girl, Break up with Him”
“Break up with him.” I wanted to say after that first twenty minutes of fighting. Then they made up and fought again for the next hour-plus of the film’s run-time. Is Malcolm & Marie bad? No. Is it good? Sometimes. Is it too long? Absolutely. It’s a passion project on a big budget and distributed by a major streaming service. It’s you plus your mans and nem getting together to make a movie except all of y’all are celebrities with beaucoup bucks. And, instead of slanging the Venmo link to your project, Netflix is shooting it to its 182 million subscribers.
Sam & Zendaya Make a Movie
The film has that experimental, gritty freedom of a student-produced showcase. It’s clear that the folks steering this ship were only beholden to themselves. Writer and director Sam Levinson wrote the screenplay in six days, basing it on a situation he experienced with his real-life wife and co-producer Ashley Levinson. The film’s stars Zendaya and John David Washington also co-produced, though only Zendaya was involved in the development of the story and script. On a meta-level, it’s very refreshing to see this kind of creative freedom without an overabundance of stilted studio input. On a basic viewer enjoyment level, this wasn’t the movie for me.
Emoting in the Background
Zendaya brings her best acting to this movie, silently suffering in the background, foreground, in the other room, in silhouette, and out of focus while Washington storms, shouts, and tantrums through the beautiful home in the hills they used as a set. Malcolm gets the most lines and the most focus as he unleashes his worst and most cruel on Marie—who was absolutely in the right, don’t @ me—in their night-long argument. Honestly, what Zendaya does with the material she’s given makes me wonder if I would’ve been more along for the ride if she’d been the one allowed to expand and explode all over this fictional relationship.
If you enjoyed A Marriage Story, this might be the movie for you. If the thought of the invisible labor of the wives, girlfriends, and partners of “brilliant” male artists makes you want to commit arson, this one might be difficult to make it through.
6 Unbaked Macaronis in a Pot out of 10
Want to find other movie reviews? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here!
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
The post Girl, Break Up with Him: ‘Malcolm & Marie’ Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.