Entertainment
With 'Hollywood Black,' Justin Simien wants us to rethink cinema's history and its future
“What is a Black movie?”
It was a question Justin Simien, who first grabbed Hollywood’s attention with his debut feature, 2014’s HBCU comedy “Dear White People,” asked a number of top-tier filmmakers. He did not get a defining answer:
“A movie typically with African Americans in leading roles.”
“A movie inspired by, rooted by, influenced and told by Black people.”
“I know one when I see one.”
Simien’s quest to answer that question is the core of “Hollywood Black,” his exploration of the history of Black cinema, highlighting the triumphs and obstacles faced by Black artists. The four-part MGM+ documentary series premiered in August and concludes Sunday with the episode “Dear Black People,” which focuses on recent successes by Black filmmakers, from “Get Out” to “Black Panther.”
Inspired by historian Donald Bogle’s book “Hollywood Black” and sprinkled with insights from several prominent artists — among those featured are directors Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther”) and Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”) and actor Giancarlo Esposito — the project traces the evolution of Black film from the silent era to the present day. A priority of the project was to honor artists and movies that have been “hidden in plain sight.”
Ryan Coogler, left, and Justin Simien in a scene from the MGM+ docuseries “Hollywood Black,” which is inspired by historian Donald Bogle’s book of the same name.
(MGM+)
“I want everyone to rethink cinema history,” said Simien, who also directed the 2023 reboot of Disney’s “The Haunted Mansion,” in introducing the series. “Because whoever controls cinema controls history.”
Speaking from his Hollywood office, he discussed the challenges of making the documentary, the crushing impact of last year’s Hollywood labor strikes and how there can be more than two film versions of “The Color Purple.” These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Trying to cover the history of Black cinema in four hours must have been a formidable undertaking.
This entertainment industry is built on top of popular culture that Black people are at the center of. You see it never being in our hands, but you can’t remove us completely because we are the secret sauce in every stage of its development and evolution. So the story is how these people who are so important in the creation of this art form gain and lose and regain control over it. It ends up being a political story, more than anything.
So much of your personal journey was influenced by “The Wiz.” So many people love that film. But it was not a critical or commercial success.
The metrics of success we are all taught on how to value certain films has to go out the window when it comes to Black stuff. It really does, particularly when it comes to something like “The Wiz,” which had a gigantic cultural impact. It’s almost like the Bible, culturally and artistically. That movie has so many accomplishments, not the least of which is bringing Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones together. I would argue it’s one of the earliest representations of ballroom culture in the famous Emerald City sequence. It is one of the most expensive movies ever made with Black people on the screen.
The stars of “The Wiz” included Nipsey Russell, left as the Tin Man, Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as Scarecrow. Justin Simien says the film is “almost like the Bible, culturally and artistically.”
(Associated Press)
Another film that Black audiences have mixed feelings about is the 2023 musical version of “The Color Purple,” produced by Oprah Winfrey. Lots of fans of the 1985 film starring Whoopi Goldberg did not embrace it.
I understand it. But on the other hand, I’m glad that Blitz Bazawule, who directed the musical version, got to make his first major feature film. I have an appreciation for the fact that it is extremely rare and an experiment every time a Black filmmaker gets to make a movie. That alone is worthy of our attention. We don’t have the same aggregate of opportunities.
And on a personal level, I long for an adaptation of “The Color Purple” that appropriately elevates the queer message in that text that Alice Walker wrote. If we want to keep making “The Color Purple,” I’m OK. There’s more to be teased out of that text.
I was very struck by the documentary’s focus on artists and films that have not gotten a lot of attention, like Charles Lane, who directed a black-and-white silent film, “Sidewalk Stories.”
The impetus for this project was seeing these movies and being both awestruck and furious, actually enraged. “Sidewalk Stories” came out in 1989. That was a big year for Black cinema — the year of [Spike Lee’s] “Do the Right Thing.” But nobody mentions this other film that happened that did not spawn its own genre of movie that way “Do the Right Thing” did. Part of the reason why is that it didn’t fit in with what was in vogue about Blackness at that time. But it is a masterpiece.
When “The Artist” won the Oscar, I remember liking that movie but was befuddled by its elevation as something important. “Sidewalk Stories” is everything that movie was in terms of using the silent movie aesthetic, particularly in the way Charles is quoting Charlie Chaplin but featuring himself as a dark-skinned Black kid on the streets of New York. He is challenging the viewer, using the same situations, but with a group of people who are Black. Why does it feel different watching the same kinds of relationships on the screen with Black people?
During the first stages of the Hollywood strikes, Black artists feared that they would be severely affected when they ended. There is a lot of pain in Hollywood right now with people being out of work, but has it been worse for Black filmmakers?
Yes. It’s harder than it’s ever been. And it has hit queer artists even harder. I rode that pendulum swing in with “Dear White People” [the film] and felt it swing back out. Then I swung back in by making “Dear White People” into a TV series. I felt it go back and forth during those years, and it is definitely swinging back. It is so difficult.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph backstage at the Oscars in March after she won supporting actress for “The Holdovers.”
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Da’Vine Joy Randolph won an Oscar this year for her performance in “The Holdovers” as Mary Lamb, the head cook at an elite New England boarding school. But her win sparked some controversy, with some observers contending that it continued the decades-long tradition of honoring Black women who play characters subservient to white people or in roles that operate in support of white characters — while honoring them for little else.
That’s an important conversation. But again she is winning an award for her performance. The bottom line is, that the role did not exist for her, for whatever reason, in the hands of a Black filmmaker. What she did with it was phenomenal. For me, that’s what we are rewarding. It’s the same with Hattie McDaniel in “Gone With the Wind.” We’re not rewarding the representation, the caricature or the stereotype. We are rewarding the person inside a pretty not-so-great system that constantly is representing Black people in a very negative way. Inside of that, she was able to do something pretty magnificent and steal the attention from the other white co-stars.
There is so much more that you couldn’t get to explore in “Hollywood Black.” Is there the possibility of more episodes?
I think it would be great. It’s up to MGM and MGM+. You could honestly go over the same periods and talk about completely different artists and still not have enough time. Or you could pick one artist per episode. If someone wants to give me some Ken Burns documentary money, then we can really go.
Movie Reviews
Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Home’ on Starz, a paranoid thriller where Pete Davidson gets trapped in a creepy retirement home
The Home (now streaming on Starz) pits Pete Davidson against the residents of a creepy retirement community, and it isn’t exactly a Millennials-vs.-Boomers clash for the ages. “Best generation, my f—in’ dick,” our headliner mutters under his breath at one point, and that’s an accurate representation of this quasi-horror movie’s level of articulation. Filmmaker James DeMonaco (director of the first three The Purge movies, writer of all of them) takes a halfway decent idea and turns it into an uninspired, vaguely brownish-colored movie version of the stew you make out of all the leftovers in the fridge, and that you can’t revive with just a little more salt.
THE HOME: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Hurricane Greta is about to slam into this community, and this movie would love you to come to the conclusion that it’s the result of the collective might of boomers’ farts after they ate too many Wagyu tenderloins basted in the metaphorical gravies wrung from the pores of younger generations. Maybe that’s why Max (Davidson) is so skinny, but it’s definitely why he’s so P.O.’d. He breaks into a building and expresses his angst via some elaborate graffiti art that gets him arrested – again. His foster father finagles a deal for him to avoid jail time by performing community service at the Green Meadows Retirement Home and that doesn’t seem too bad since he’ll be a janitor and not a nurse on diaper duty. And at this point it’s established that Max has some trauma stemming from his foster brother’s suicide, the type of trauma that’s requisite to pile atop any and all protagonists of crappo horror movies at this point in the 21st century.
It’s worth noting that Green Meadows is a halfway-decent retirement community – not as posh as the one in The Thursday Murder Club, and not as repugnant as you might expect for a low-rung horror flick. BUT. There’s always a BUT. He arrives at the home and looks up and sees peering out a window the face of a gaunt old man with eyes that ain’t quite right. I’m sure it’s nothing! Management gives him the nickel tour, and gives him the first rule of The Friday the 13th Murder Club: DON’T GO ON THE FOURTH FLOOR. And yes, that’s also the second rule of The Friday the 13th Murder Club. Max will stay in a room at the home so he can be available 24/7 in case the job requires a 2 a.m. mop-up, and also so he can have lucid dreams that may or may not actually be dreams about weird shit happening around these here parts.
But everything goes fine and Max quietly manages his trauma and nothing incredibly gross and/or violent happens and he lives happily ever after the end. No! Actually, he catches a glimpse of old people in bizarre masks having miserable sex, and hears horrible screams of agony coming from, yes, the fourth floor. Max seems to be getting along OK, and even makes a couple of friends, like Lou (John Glover), who summons Max to clean up a big mess of feces when it’s actually a little welcome party for the new super. Ha! Max also has conversations about Real Stuff with Norma (Mary Beth Peil), both sharing the pain of the people they’ve lost. Eventually the fourth floor misery noises get to be too much and Max picks the lock and investigates, and it’s full of wheelchair-bound elderlies in states of drooling, semi-comatose madness. After Max gets his hand slapped for violating the first/second rule, that’s when the bullshit ramps up. Let’s just say this bullshit has some Satanic vibes, and poor Norma doesn’t deserve what happens to her, although Max seems ready to do something about all this.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? The Home is sub-Blumhouse drivel nominally referencing things like Rosemary’s Baby, Eyes Wide Shut, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in order to make it seem smarter than it is. Other recent scary movies set in nursing homes: The Manor, The Rule of Jenny Pen.
Performance Worth Watching: A moment of praise for the makeup and practical effects people, who provide The Home with more memorable elements than any of the cast performances.
Sex And Skin: A bit. Nothing extensive. But definitely unpleasant.
Our Take: In The Home, DeMarco tries a little bit of everything: flashbacks, dream-sequence fakeouts, jump scares, body horror, surveillance-tech POVs, occult gobbledygook, creepy sex, conspiracies, climate change dread, generational divide, paranoia, deepfake-ish dark-web weirdness… it goes on, and none of it is particularly compelling or original. It’s most effective in its grisly imagery, with a couple of memorable deaths that might tickle the cockles of horror connoisseurs, and DeMarco’s generous deployment of pus and eyeball gloop shows a variation on the usual bodily fluids that’s, well, I don’t know if “satisfying” is the right word, but at least we’re not drenched in the same ol’ blood and barf. Small victories, I guess.
Most will take issue with the casting of Davidson, who in the majority of his roles to date has yet to show the intensity that anchoring a thriller like The Home demands. He puts in some diligent effort in the role of the guy who routinely goes what the eff is going on around here?, and his work is a cut above merely cashing a paycheck, which isn’t to say he’s necessarily good. Miscast, maybe. The victim of half-assed writing, more likely, this being a paranoid creepout that never gets under our skin, with attempts at cheeky comedy that fizzle out and social commentary that dead-ends into obviousness. Having Davidson piss and moan about “F—ing boomers” ain’t enough.
The plot works its way through its hodgepodge of this ‘n’ that plot mechanisms to get to a conclusion that’ underwhelming and over the top at the same time; the initial bit of exhilaration quickly dissipates and we’re left with the sense that the movie just hasn’t been good or diligent enough in its storytelling and character development to earn this catharsis. It’s just spectacle for its own gory sake. This mediocrity might just inspire Davidson to retire from horror movies.
Our Call: Hate to say it, but 1.7 decent kills does not a horror movie make. SKIP IT.
John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.
Entertainment
House committee report questions distribution of FireAid’s $100 million for L.A. wildfire relief
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday released a report after its own investigation into FireAid, the charity founded by Clippers executives that raised $100 million for wildfire relief efforts in Los Angeles last January.
The investigation — led by Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) under committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — began in August when Kiley “sent a letter to FireAid requesting a detailed breakdown of all non-profits that received money from FireAid.” Kiley expressed concern that the money had gone toward local nonprofits rather than as more direct aid to affected residents.
FireAid promptly released a comprehensive document detailing its fundraising and grant dispersals. After reaching out to every named nonprofit in the document, The Times reported that the groups who successfully applied for grants were quickly given money to spend in their areas of expertise, as outlined in FireAid’s public mission statements. A review conducted by an outside law firm confirmed the same.
The new Republican-led committee report is skeptical of the nonprofit work done under FireAid’s auspices — but cites relatively few examples of groups deviating from FireAid’s stated goals.
Representatives for FireAid did not immediately respond to request for comment on the report.
Out of hundreds of nonprofits given millions in FireAid funds, “In total, the Committee found six organizations that allocated FireAid grants towards labor, salaries, or other related costs,” the report said.
The committee singled out several local nonprofits, focused on relief and development for minorities and marginalized groups, for criticism. It named several long-established organizations like the NAACP Pasadena, My Tribe Rise, Black Music Action Coalition, CA Native Vote Project and Community Organized Relief Efforts (CORE), whose activities related to fire relief they found “unclear,” without providing specific claims of misusing FireAid funds.
The report — while heavily citing Fox News, Breitbart and New York Post stories — claims that “FireAid prioritized and awarded grants to illegal aliens.” Yet its lone example for this is a grant that went to CORE, citing its mission for aiding crisis response within “underserved communities,” one of which is “undocumented migrants” facing “high risk of housing instability, economic hardship, exploitation, and homelessness.”
The report said that $500,000 was used by the California Charter Schools Assn., Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, LA Disaster Relief Navigator, Community Clinic Assn. of Los Angeles County and LA Conservation Corps “towards labor, salaries, or other related costs,” which the committee said went against FireAid’s stated goals.
Yet the examples they cite as suspicious include NLSLA using its FireAid grant to pay salaries to attorneys providing free legal aid to fire victims, the Community Clinic of Los Angeles “expanding training in mental health and trauma care” through grants to smaller local health centers, and the L.A. Regional Food bank allocating its funds to “mobilize resources to fight hunger.”
The report singled out one group, Altadena Talks Foundation, from Team Rubicon relief worker Toni Raines. Altadena Talks Foundation received a $100,00 grant from FireAid, yet the report said Altadena Talks’ work on a local news podcast, among other efforts, “remains unclear” as it relates to fire relief.
The report’s claims that “instead of helping fire victims, donations made to FireAid helped to fund causes and projects completely unrelated to fire recovery, including voter participation for Native Americans, illegal aliens, podcast shows, and fungus planting” sound incendiary. Yet the evidence it cites generally shows a range of established local nonprofits addressing community-specific concerns in a fast-moving disaster, with some small amounts of money possibly going toward salaries or overhead, or groups whose missions the committee viewed skeptically.
FireAid still plans to distribute an additional round of $25 million in grants this year.
I’d call the title “Relentless” truth in advertising, althought “Pitiless,” “Endless” and “Senseless” work just as well.
This new thriller from the sarcastically surnamed writer-director Tom Botchii (real name Tom Botchii Skowronski of “Artik” fame) begins in uninteresting mystery, strains to become a revenge thriller “about something” and never gets out of its own way.
So bloody that everything else — logic, reason, rationale and “Who do we root for?” quandary is throughly botched — its 93 minutes pass by like bleeding out from screwdriver puncture wounds — excruciatingly.
But hey, they shot it in Lewiston, Idaho, so good on them for not filming overfilmed Greater LA, even if the locations are as generically North American as one could imagine.
Career bit player and Lewiston native Jeffrey Decker stars as a homeless man we meet in his car, bearded, shivering and listening over and over again to a voice mail from his significant other.
He has no enthusiasm for the sign-spinning work he does to feed himself and gas up his ’80s Chevy. But if woman, man or child among us ever relishes anything as much as this character loves his cigarettes — long, theatrical, stair-at-the-stars drags of ecstacy — we can count ourselves blessed.
There’s this Asian techie (Shuhei Kinoshita) pounding away at his laptop, doing something we assume is sketchy just by the “ACCESS DENIED” screens he keeps bumping into and the frantic calls he takes suggesting urgency of some sort or other.
That man-bunned stranger, seen in smoky silhoutte through the opaque window on his door, ringing the bell of his designer McMansion makes him wary. And not just because the guy’s smoking and seems to be making up his “How we can help cut your energy bill” pitch on the fly.
Next thing our techie knows, shotgun blasts are knocking out the lock (Not the, uh GLASS) and a crazed, dirty beardo homeless guy has stormed in, firing away at him as he flees and cries “STOP! Why are you doing this?”
Jun, as the credits name him, fights for his PC and his life. He wins one and loses the other. But tracking his laptop and homeless thug “Teddy” with his phone turns out to be a mistake.
He’s caught, beaten and bloodied some more. And that’s how Jun learns the beef this crazed, wronged man has with him — identity theft, financial fraud, etc.
Threats and torture over access to that laptop ensue, along with one man listing the wrongs he’s been done as he puts his hostage through all this.
Wait’ll you get a load of what the writer-director thinks is the card our hostage would play.
The dialogue isn’t much, and the logic — fleeing a fight you’ve just won with a killer rather than finishing him off or calling the cops, etc. — doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny.
The set-piece fights, which involve Kinoshita screaming and charging his tormentor and the tormentor played by Decker stalking him with wounded, bloody-minded resolve are visceral enough to come off. Decker and Kinoshita are better than the screenplay.
A throw-down at a gas-station climaxes with a brutal brawl on the hood of a bystander’s car going through an automatic car wash. Amusingly, the car-wash owners feel the need to do an Idaho do-si-do video (“Roggers (sic) Car Wash”) that plays in front of the car being washed and behind all the mayhem the antagonists and the bystander/car owner go through. Not bad.
The rest? Not good.
Perhaps the good folks at Rogers Motors and Car Wash read the script and opted to get their name misspelled. Smart move.
Rating: R, graphic violence, smoking, profanity
Cast: Jeffrey Decker, Shuhei Kinoshita
Credits:Scripted and directed by Tom Botchii.. A Saban Entertainment release.
Running time: 1:34
Related
Horror of school attack in Uvalde, Texas, brings tears as officer faces trial over police response – WTOP News
Winter weather advisories issued for Utah valleys ahead of arriving snowstorm
Jewish group files ethics complaints against Vermont legislators who took paid trip to Israel – VTDigger
Instant takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats basketball loss at WVU
Dynamite, Floods and Feuds: Washington’s forgotten river wars
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Wyoming Supreme Court rules laws restricting abortion violate state constitution
How strong are Latin America’s military forces, as they face US threats?
Trump says Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to US | CNN Business
Video: Nvidia Shows Off New A.I. Chip at CES
Pelosi heir-apparent calls Trump’s Venezuela move a ‘lawless coup,’ urges impeachment, slams Netanyahu
-
World1 week agoHamas builds new terror regime in Gaza, recruiting teens amid problematic election
-
News1 week agoFor those who help the poor, 2025 goes down as a year of chaos
-
Business1 week agoInstacart ends AI pricing test that charged shoppers different prices for the same items
-
Health1 week agoDid holiday stress wreak havoc on your gut? Doctors say 6 simple tips can help
-
Technology1 week agoChatGPT’s GPT-5.2 is here, and it feels rushed
-
Business1 week agoA tale of two Ralphs — Lauren and the supermarket — shows the reality of a K-shaped economy
-
Science1 week agoWe Asked for Environmental Fixes in Your State. You Sent In Thousands.
-
Politics1 week agoThe biggest losers of 2025: Who fell flat as the year closed