Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:53 — 47.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Blubrry |

The Temple of Geek podcast, hosted by Kari, dives into the movie The American Society of Magical Negroes.  Kari welcomes guest Natacia, a non-binary Black femme with a passion for film, television, and social media discussions. Together they give their honest thoughts about the film. A warning is issued for spoilers to those who haven’t seen it yet.

The American Society of Magical Negroes, is a new comedy film that takes a satirical look at the trope of the magical Black character who exists solely to help white protagonists. Written and directed by Kobi Libii in his directorial debut, the film stars Justice Smith as a young Black man who discovers a hidden society of Black people with magical abilities dedicated to uplifting white people. David Alan Grier and An-Li Bogan also star.

The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 19th and was released in theaters nationwide by Focus Features on March 15, 2024.

Temple of Geek Podcast

The Temple of Geek Podcast has been around since 2012 and is hosted by various geeky people from the Temple of Geek team. Here we cover all manner of geek and pop culture news and events.

You can listen to the Temple of Geek Podcast directly on this page or stream it on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcast / iHeart Radio / Stitcher / Spotify and wherever you stream your podcast.

Movie Review: The American Society of Magical Negroes

The Temple of Geek podcast, hosted by Kari, dives into the movie “American Society of Magical Negroes.”

Initial Thoughts on the Movie

Kari asks for Natasha’s initial thoughts on the movie. Natasha admits to entering with measured expectations, aiming for an open mind. They felt the movie missed the mark in its message and target audience. While some cute rom-com moments existed, the overall experience felt underwhelming.

Kari shares a similar experience. Having avoided spoilers, they expected a fantasy film based on the title. However, it turned out to be a social commentary with a fantasy element seemingly added for distinction. They felt the movie arrived a few years too late for maximum impact.

Both Kari and Natasha found the movie’s title referencing the “Magical Negro” trope understandable. However, they felt the title wasn’t accessible to a broad audience and the movie itself lacked strong fantasy elements. This created a disconnect between audience expectations and the film’s true focus.

Finding Positives

Kari acknowledges Natasha’s dislike for the movie but clarifies they didn’t hate it. Natasha points to the cute moments between Aaron and Lizzie, the love interests, as a positive aspect. They praise actress An-Li Bogan’s screen presence and acknowledge that actor Justice Smith did well in his role.

Natasha suggests the movie could be an entry point for some viewers new to social discussions about race relations. However, they acknowledge that in 2024, such a basic introduction might not be as necessary.

Kari agrees, finding the rom-com aspect with Lizzie the most enjoyable part. They find it ironic that this wasn’t supposed to be the movie’s highlight.

About our Hosts

Natacia is a Black queer content creator who loves to discuss nerd culture and fandom media, especially Star Wars and the MCU. They share a podcast, Pop Chatter, with their best friend and co-host Lindsay to chat about all things pop culture. You can find Natacia on Twitter and TiKTok at @nknapper and their podcast Twitter account at @popchatterpod.

Kari is well known in the Star Wars fandom on TikTok as @estarguarstia. Her Tiktok account has become a safe place for fans who love the prequels. And she enjoys giving a thoughtful approach to discussing Star Wars. She is also a contributor at Temple of Geek.

About Author

Alba K. Guerrero

“Kari” is an entertainment correspondent for Temple of Geek and a popular geek culture content creator. She is best known for her TikTok account @estarguarstia.

Advertisement

Monica Duarte

Born and raised under the California sun. Monica is the Editor-In-Chief at Temple of Geek. She also serves as Executive Producer of The Temple of Geek Podcast, Retro Rebel Podcast, and Portrait of a Fangirl. Lover of all things geeks but especially sci-fi like Doctor Who, The Expanse, Star Wars and Star Trek.

Advertisement

Advertisement

A warm family film that could’ve been explored more 

By INDRANIL BASU — arts@theaggie.org

“Wonka,” directed by Paul King and written by him and Simon Farnaby, was released in December of last year under Warner Bros. Pictures. The film has been a commercial success and well-received by audiences and critics. It became the 70th-highest-grossing film of 2023 and was nominated for awards including the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (for Timothée Chalamet).

The musical fantasy comedy film is premised on the origin story of Willy Wonka, the well-known character from Roald Dahl’s famous children’s novel, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” starring Chalamet in the titular role. King uses Dahl’s body of work to visualize his backstory and create a fantastic exploration of the intriguing personality of Wonka.

Set in a vague 1940s European city, Wonka arrives as a young man, inventor, magician and chocolatier after spending seven years as an innovative chef at sea. He is ready to make a fortune, and more so a life for himself, with his chocolatey inventions that he has perfected during his time and travels across the world. The film follows his journey of achieving that dream, one strongly connected with themes of family — both blood and chosen — love and generosity.

“Wonka” is well written, in plot, dialogue and lyrics, as well as brilliantly filmed by Chung-hoon Chung and scored by Joby Talbot. The musical numbers are well worked, performed (mostly) by Chalamet, and well created but don’t stand out too much vocally in the way they are composed or sung. 

Chalamet as Wonka fits into the image of the beloved character in the overcoat, hat and cane, with a suitcase full of his inventions and dreams, as iconized in previous films by Johnny Depp in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005) and Gene Wilder in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),” definitely drawing more from the latter in its characterizations. He seems out of place in his young boy-next-door looks with ruffled hair and American accent, which matches Wonka’s background if we consider him American and the film as a modern interpretation of him (which it is in many ways). 

He is simple, friendly, innocent and giving, unlike Depp’s portrayal and more importantly the novel’s sassy, socially awkward, apathetic and androgynous Wonka who is the embodiment of eccentricity. The filmmakers run with the straighter 1971 version of Wonka who is none of those but innovative — rather an aspirational underdog the audience can relate to, which he perhaps was before making it as a chocolatier and becoming the pop culture phenomenon he is seen as in previous appearances. Although the filmmakers have stated that Chalamet was their top choice for casting, maybe someone else could capture the fantastic seed of eccentricity that must have still been in him as a young adult, one that the film could have explored more.

The ensemble cast delivers wonderful supporting performances in the film: particularly Calah Lane as the orphan girl Noodle, whose character arc is significantly in parallel with Wonka’s’; Keegan-Michael Key as the corrupt Chief-of-Police, Paterson Joseph; Matt Lucas and Mathew Baynton as the “Chocolate Cartel” leaders; Jim Carter as the accountant Abacus Crunch; Olivia Colman as the British-evil Mrs. Scrubitt and Hugh Grant as the single Oompa-Loompa of the film.

The film is definitely a “savage indictment of capitalism,” as the filmmaker has stated himself, especially in Western socio-political structures, with a hugely corrupt (three)-man monopoly (on chocolate). Constantly colluding with the church and the police, the film uses (chocolate as their currency of) bribe, to maintain their hegemony and the large economic gap between them and the consumer. 

Daydreaming comes with a fee in this economy. Some of the language, however, such as Chocolate “cartel” for the corrupt oligarchy of the three Galéries Gourmet Chocolatiers, or “monks” for the “chocoholic” clergymen, is fairly questionable. It makes a good critique of capitalism but falls just a bit short on Wonka and leaves it to us to bridge the gap between him at the end of this film and the beginning of Wonka as we know him.

“Wonka” is a good film to watch with family, with its themes of family, love and sharing over greed and dreaming. The movie maintains a visual spectacle with excellent set and costume design that absorbs the audience into an earlier fantastical era in Europe and its musical numbers. You will understand Wonka as someone just like us, and discover the story of his drive for spreading happiness by making chocolate. Be ready to shed a chocolatey tear of joy. “Wonka” is now streaming on HBO Max.

Written by: Indranil Basu — arts@theaggie.org

Writer-director V Priya’s Pon Ondru Kanden is a love triangle, and like almost any such film, it takes a meandering route to get to its point. Siva (Ashok Selvan) and Sai (Vasanth Ravi) are childhood foes turned friends. At the start of the film, their younger selves fight it out over a classmate named Sundari. Years later, Siva is a gynaecologist and a womaniser, still looking for a girl in his life. He has flings and has such a casual idea about relationships that he does not get it when his sister sends a girl to his office for a marital arrangement. Mistaking the girl for a potential client, gynaecologist Siva makes a remark that puts her off, and the interaction ends in a slap. This scene is supposed to be funny, but the joke does not land. On the other hand, Sai has a hard time looking after his mother, who has dementia. He is a clueless guy who dresses like a gentleman, tells girls jokes that miss the mark, and eventually turns to Siva for relationship advice. Sai is the quintessential “boomer uncle,” but a dossier on him should have him riding an old scooter in place of the Bullet.

Director: V Priya

Cast: Ashok Selvan, Vasanth Ravi, Aishwarya Lekshmi

There is so much buildup for their school-and-college-time rivalry at the start, but the two guys who cannot get along with each other become thick friends just like that. Here itself, you realise that Pon Ondru Kanden is such an easy-on-the-eye film about good-natured guys where conflicts resolve themselves.

Speaking of conflicts, the film is pretty uneventful until Aishwarya Lekshmi’s Sandy makes an appearance in Sai and Siva’s lives. One of them knows Sandy from his past, but he finds it hard to talk to his friend about it because he does not want to spoil their party. There is a clever use of the ‘Pon Ondru Kandein’ song from the Sivaji Ganesan film Padithal Mattum Pothuma, with the lines, ”Nee partha pennai naan parkavillai,” which encapsulates the situation of Sai and Siva. There is also a clever juxtaposition of Sai imagining himself with Sandy in a relationship and Siva doing the same with back-to-back songs. Unfortunately, however, the same cleverness hardly extends to the rest of the screenplay.

In a bizarre stretch of storytelling, Sai tells Siva that Sandy got married at a young age; it is a point she also insists on, but there is no age difference between her past and present versions. No amount of makeup or de-ageing technology might save a film with such an archaic screenplay, but it still would not hurt to try and strive for authenticity, especially in terms of character appearances.

In another bizarre occurrence, four songs appear within 20 minutes in the middle of the film. While two of these songs take the plot forward, the others are simply crammed into the narrative. The third song follows a meet-cute moment and paves the way for a proposal scene, which catches the heroine off guard and makes her equate herself to a Mani Ratnam heroine. They get into a relationship so fast, and it could have worked, but the execution makes you wonder why the editing and storytelling are in just as much of a hurry.

Pon Ondru Kandein is a deceitful title, and the idea of the film that comes together at the end is more interesting than the execution. Two of the lead characters start to grow on you slightly the longer you watch the film, which is probably the best you could expect from such a vanilla rom-com. The three leads try to infuse some spark into the narrative but mostly give off the impression that they are in an ad film. Yet, given what Pon Ondru Kandein becomes, the fact that none of the actors takes the premise too seriously works more in favour of the film than against it, as it helps keep the tone light. That being said, it would not hurt to have some more actual comedy in the meandering climax instead of the puerile ones it does have.