A Good Day to be Black & Sexy (2008)

With a week from working from home, I'm trying to move through my queue and this has been sitting. Being black and considering myself fairly sexy, I thought watching A Good Day to be Black & Sexy (written and directed, Dennis Dortch) would be an appropriate movie. Plus, I want to watch more short films and this gave me a look of six at once.

What IMDb has to say:

A between-the-sheets peek at Black Love and Sexuality.

Synopsis

Reciprocity
The movie begins with spiraling music and the view of a woman's lust face as she gets eaten out. After her lover is finished with her. She rolls to the side ready for bed with no desire to give back. 

Her Man

We're transported to the bed of a couple having morning sex. There are taken out the moment of passion by a vibrating phone. The phone is finally picked up you realize the man is cheating and the woman is not pleased being the "side bitch". 

tonite (part i)

Two friends eating burgers on the side of the street hanging out for a woman's birthday. Things progress and the guy kicks the woman out of his car.

Reprise

A couple's in bed and they are experimenting. 

tonite (part ii)

The woman's two friends come pick her up with a guy and baby in tow. The two girlfriends keep leaving her sitting in the car awkwardly with the baby and the guy. In those moments she keeps trying to connect with him.

American Boyfriend

An interracial couple being happy until the woman's family comes over unexpectedly. 

Thoughts

The first couple women in this are spiteful, childish, and manipulative. I was afraid it was going to a portrait of these terrible women and show the community in a very unfavorable light. However, with every story the tone changed a bit.

American Boyfriend one was noticeably different from the others as it used sound effects and image blurs in a way not seem before in the movie. Also, the timeline of effects was scrambled a bit.

I appreciated the varied look of the black community. Light skin, dark skin, soulful, hood. I wished it had been more inclusive in the body type and background though. Being someone of bigger stature and more noticeably, of a suburban upbringing, that doesn't make me any less a part of the black community. But that's more of an overall evaluation of Hollywood's depiction as opposed to an overall critique of the movie.

It comes down to the same thing. The desire to be loved, cared for, and protected, and respected without pressure. The way the movie shapes it within the black community is beautiful, but those visceral emotions can be understood by all.

Between the fifth and sixth movie there is a montage of photos of mostly black woman. Portraits, paintings, candid shots, etc. It was random and seemed like something that would have been more interesting or effective if done differently. Perhaps once in the beginning and once at the end. Or a certain type between each vignettes. One of paintings, real life, actresses, etc. 

Reprise was the shortest of all and was actually the couple I wanted to see more of. I wish there had been more time on their story, then the two part story "tonight". I found tonight's protagonist the most relatable, but the most distasteful. However, that probably says more about me and my personal experience, than the story itself. 

I like this movie, but the differences in the last 15 mins. Stuck out. Between the montage and the way American Boyfriend was cut together, it seemed off. I think I understand what Dortch was going for, but I wished that all the stories were different in their own special way, or that it was all uniform. The way it was done, seems more like an afterthought, than artistic license. 

I rarely, notice soundtracks, this one, however, was special. It sang to parts of me.

I intentionally didn't dig too deep into each short film, as it's worth watching this for yourself. There's a lot of beauty and meaning behind what's not said, as opposed to what is. This was a movie that would have been more enjoyable to watch with someone. May it be your friends or your significant other, this movie will get you thinking about relationships and how they are handled by those in them.

Heckler (2007)

So, I've been very quite lately. Some because of work, but a lot because of this movie. I choose it because I enjoy hearing basement banter about the comedy world. I also, love documentaries. Documentaries would be hard for me to talk about so, I wanted something that could be enjoyed. It started with the basement banter but the movie, Heckler, is so much more. According to IMDb:

HECKLER is a comedic feature documentary exploring the increasingly critical world we live in. After starring in a film that was critically bashed, Jamie Kennedy takes on hecklers.

Synopsis

The movie is mingling of interviews with comedians and recordings of on stage acts. It starts off with comedians telling what hecklers are, re-telling horror stories of heckling and how they each decided to deal with the unruly. 

There then is a shift in the directions. "Why do people heckle?" Throughout the movie, scenes will stop, have text on them, and present another question. It's with this question in particular that the focus shifts from comedians to comedians and public figures at large. There's even a clip of President Ronald Reagan being heckled and how he responded. This serious shifts occurs only 10 minutes into the movie, but isn't jarring. More and more, we leave the realm of heckling and take a broader look at criticism in general, and the motives those who do it. Up until the last 15 minutes it was a great documentary that offered the "artists'" perspective on criticism. 

Thoughts

One thing that really stood out for me and something that I enjoyed, was the arrangement of the movie. This might be because I'm slightly OCD about organization, but it's something worth commenting on. As I described earlier, there are still shots with questions presented, and then 5-10 minutes of people talking about/answering that specific questions. With each question, the tone of the movie is slightly more somber. Thus, slipping into a conversation about criticism at-large, seems natural. Documentaries should capture real emotions and life how it really is. This movie does that. 

It's easy to be think this movie might be about a bunch of famous people complaining, but it's not. There are times when Kennedy comes off a little snotty, but it seems more as an act, kind of a comedy tick he has a hard time turning off. The people interviewed are all honest about times they bombed or about how, even though they've been in the business awhile, some stuff hurts.

To me, this wasn't really a comedy movie. Yes, there are comedians in it, and just moments are funny, but it's not a comedy. It's an interesting look at the nature of criticism. 

Jamie Kennedy is the tour guide of this movie. He's interviewing people who have gotten heckled, you see him bomb on stage, but he's also goes and meets those who have not just heckled him, but criticized his movie(s). I had mixed feelings about the time Kennedy was on screen. There were moments that were nice, but there were also a few unnecessary moments.

I won't talk about the last 15 minutes. I think the point was made and then someone forgot to edit off the last bit.