https://blacknerdproblems.com/one-of-them-days-review/

It’s Black History Month, y’all, and I’d like to thank our BAPS ancestors for Black cinema on this day. One of Them Days is the Black Women’s Friday we know we needed for a long time, and it could not have come at a greater moment than this. When the word DEI is being said with a hard R across the country, this film gives the illest side eye and a righteous suck of the teeth. If you haven’t seen the film yet – get to the theaters and pay Black filmmakers their money.

Just a month ago, the film One of Them Days hit the box offices and has been a slow and steady burn on the charts ever since. Grossing over $44mil around the world and continuing to attract audiences. Not only is there a continued interest in the film, but critics and fans are simply in love with the story and the stars. So how does a movie with a BIPOC narrative, a majority (basically all but one) Black and Brown cast thrive in an America trying to be “great again?” Because F-that WE already great, always have been. 

No worries, no real spoilers will happen in this article. I genuinely want you to experience the magic for yourself. 

Just One of Them Days

The movie follows Dreux (pronounced Drew), played by the charismatic Keke Palmer, and Alyssa played by singer/songwriter SZA. I’ll be honest – I was skeptical about SZA’s acting ability at first. The switch between singer and actor is a 50/50 hit or miss (cough, Alicia Keys cough). I am so glad I was proven wrong. SZA effortlessly brought Alyssa the bohemian, witchy, good-natured vibe that was everything to Keke’s go-getter, goal-driven, upbeat, worry-wart character Dreux. SZA’s character is a visual artist and painter with a more free-flowing, free-loving attitude that attracts moohcers along the way. Keke’s character is the community cultivator with high hopes of owning her own business and rising up as one would say. 

These two are best friends living together, making ends meet in a next level of paycheck-to-paycheck way. When SZA’s freeloading boyfriend swindles their rent money, they now have twelve hours to make rent before they are kicked to the curb (literally.) They then embark on a Friday-esq adventure with the clock ticking down to their demise. All of these shenanigans are complete, with Deebo-like characters threatening their lives. Enticing beautiful Black men who we are trying to trust at every turn. A landlord who welcomes gentrification with open arms and renovations abound. Even a wise black man named Lucky, played by Katt Williams, who’s truly looking out for these girls’ well-being. 

Let’s Take It Personal

Now, I’m gonna get personal y’all, because I feel like the charge against the well-being of marginalized people hits a little close to home. Real talk. I’ve been unemployed now for eighteen straight months. Laid off due to company downsizing, which led to my entire department being shut down. Now, as a Black woman in corporate media, I felt a different sting of fear than my former co-workers. While they also struggled to find work – I don’t pretend this market isn’t hurting everyone. I felt a particularly overpowering sense of dread. While they slowly got consulting gigs and full-time work, I was still searching, getting rejection emails or no responses at all, even when knowing the hiring manager, the CEOs, or having official recommendations. 

I began to feel a bit paranoid that maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m being blackballed (pun intended.) When I really sat down to think about it, I began compiling all the micro and macro aggressions I received at any given job in my twenty-plus years in the workforce. In this age where people just don’t want to deal with it, when they’re rolling back their efforts to work on themselves, I am a serious liability. To hire a Black woman means, ‘ugh,’ ‘I need to be aware of what I say,’ and ‘I have to consider things that take work to think about.’ ‘What if I say the wrong thing? I’ll have to get tied up in HR.’ For a time, hiring someone like me was non-threatening. I am an unassuming Black girl who grew up in suburbia. It was convenient. As times have changed, the threshold of convenience has dwindled. People want to be just a little bit racist in peace. Or just a lotta bit racist out loud. There is no more room for convenience.

While sitting wide-eyed in the Alamo Drafthouse theater drinking my watermelon mezcal margarita (a regular drink on the menu, don’t make it racial wink), I felt all of these things. As I watched these two queens run around LA trying to find any way to make rent while a series of unfortunate events stacked up against them, I all of a sudden was like – am I from LA? Did this happen to me? Is this my story? Yes, yes, it is, and it’s told with laughter, wit, drama, and all the things we need to see. 

That a Girl Goes Through

Every element that a Black woman feels inside oozes from this film. The want to be professional. As Keke races to make quick cash, she is also up for an interview to be a franchise manager of the restaurant she works for. The need to fuel our creativity and invest in ourselves. As SZA diminishes her light, never selling a piece nor holding a gallery showing despite the multiple beautiful works lying around the apartment. Believing dumb guys and then being skeptical of the great ones because of our past. All the jokes hit. It was the warm hug I was needing. 

One of Them Days is expertly written by Syreeta Singelton (no relation to John Singelton, although her writing makes you feel otherwise). Singleton is known notably for her work on Insecure and the buddy comedy (or dramedy) show Rap Shit. 

Along with Singelton’s genius writing, the film is heralded by a band of Black and Brown creators. Issa Rae being the producer of Singelton’s other works. One of Them Days, directed by Lawrence Lamont, also directed on Rap Shit. Producers also include Denise Davis, known for Black Lady Sketch Show. One of Them Days is also Executive Produced by someone who seems to be the Black entertainment godfather, Charles D. King. King is responsible for Judas and the Black Messiah, Sorry to Bother You, Mudbound, Fences, and the list goes on. The crew consists of women-identified cinematographer Ava Berkofsky, known for Rogue One and Captain Marvel, and editors Tia Nolan and Kim Boritz-Brehm who worked on Dr. Strange and Rogue One. Latiné woman Production Designer Monique Dias, Black Woman Composer Chanda Dancy. Black Woman Costume Designer Kairo Courts, known for her work on Atlanta, had these characters in the culture forward fits with nods to BAPS, in my opinion. 

When I’m Angry Inside

This is not the diversity hire you wall were looking for. They came to play! Now, I am not marveling at the idea of a Black and Brown and women-led production. I do this on my indie sets and strive for it in every project I take on. We’ve seen it in Insecure, Black Panther, and so many more. It is, although, something to keep shouting into the cosmos as much as possible.  

A 2021 study by research firm McKinsey & Company found that only 6% of films in the US have Black writers, actors, or producers. It also found that when a project does not have a Black and Brown producer involved, it is drastically less likely to hire any other off-screen Black and Brown people. The odds, as we all know, have always been stacked against us. The idea of tipping the scales by having people understand they need to do better is just the bare minimum. What happens when people see my name, Aisha, on my resume? When there are 700 applicants and my qualifications are just as good as the next? My mind goes to what is stacked against me. Then I see films like One of Them Days. Black Women leads, clearly a Black and Brown story with all the nuance. Excellent writing, direction, editing, and acting. I know I’ve been knocking at the wrong doors. No, we can’t do it on our own all by ourselves because forces will still work against us, but the possibility for change has to be strong-willed, and we are the strongest. 

I don’t want to say One of Them Days is our salvation. It’s just been a long time since we’ve seen a film such as this gel so well and makes us feel as capable as Dreux and Alyssa. 

Don’t Take It Out On Us

The truth about DEI is it isn’t about us, the Black and Brown, the BIPOC, the veterans, women, and differently abled-bodied people –  it’s about them. The elite’s inability to see just how versatile, multi-talented, and essential we are in every frickin’ field that exists. DEI is for them. Because of the closed-off world that’s been created, the privileged need a program to see what is right in front of them. That was their choice, not ours. So people like Charles D King, Syreeta Singleton, Issa Rae, Larry Wilmore, Quinta Brunson, Ava DuVernay, said (puts Thanos infinity gauntlet on) I’ll do it myself. Now this is not a march to let’s ignore the reality we live in and that doing everything ourselves is so easy. No, none of that. I’m on the Miles Morales, and I can do both. The world that colonizers created has FK’d us all, and we’re gonna need all the grey areas explored and all the efforts to get the FK out of this. Dreux and Alyssa ran the gamut to get just a piece of what they deserved: an apartment with a ceiling that looks like the pictures. That’s all y’all. I commend this production for showing us how forgotten they want us to feel and how powerful we still and will always be. 

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The post ‘One Of Them Days’ Takes It Personal appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.