Reviews of "Beauty Shop," "Guess Who," "Sometimes In April"
and, in Brief, "Sin City" and "Constantine."

By Esther Iverem
SeeingBlack.com Editor and Film Critic

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In Brief: Beating the Devil "Constantine": Who would have thought that skinny Keanu Reeves could establish a franchise as a superhero? Post-"Matrix," in "Constantine," he plays a chain-smoking, irreverent hunter of half demons who walk the earth. (You know, you see these people everyday.) He is part priest, part exorcist and part demon-slayer in the style of "Blade." There is a lot packed into this movie, including evil angels, a benevolent Lucifer and a walking tour of hell. At its core are themes of forgiveness, sacrifice and life's purpose–even for a superhero. Sin City: The nasty, brutish world of Frank Miller’s graphic novels comes to the screen in "Sin City," which functions as both a primer for all sick and misogynist behavior in Western society, and a bleak rejoinder to any notion of romance in traditional movie narratives. In a pastiche of black-and-white, graphics-inspired special effects and men’s designer overcoats, "Sin City"tells stories of the police, assorted lowlifes and crooked politicians of Basin City, the setting for Miller’s world where all females, including Rosario Dawson, are either hookers or rape victims, and everything is covered with a thick layer of sleaze. Quentin Tarantino, as guest director, guarantees that everything that is already unsparingly violent in Miller’s stories is made even more so, and stylized, for the big screen. —Iverem

"Beauty Shop"

Perhaps hair care cinema has run its course. The lukewarm comedy and well-tread themes of "Beauty Shop"give it the feel of yesterday's hairdo. And not even the likeable Queen Latifah can raise the energy to the proper level for a theatrical release. It's just okay. And a just okay comedy pales in comparison to more cleverly written flicks, such as "Undercover Brother,' or even old Robin Harris footage.

This would have been a fresh film, say, ten years ago, when we were still yearning for Black romantic heroines and women's stories on the screen. But, for real, after the likes of "Waiting to Exhale," "Soul Food," (in theaters and on TV), and more recent fare such as "Deliver Us from Eva" and the current "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," any new film attempting to set out on the sista trail must at least rock some fresh stories or jokes.

This story of Gina (Queen Latifah), who is a gifted hair stylist, is an offshoot of Ice Cube's "Barbershop" flicks, where Gina was last seen trading hilarious barbs with Cedric the Entertainer. In "Beauty Shop," Gina has moved to Atlanta so that her daughter can attend a prestigious music school. At first she is working in a White salon run by Jorge (Kevin Bacon), but, after a falling out with the boss, Gina strikes out on her own and opens her own business.

There is plenty of positive, do-for-self entrepreneurial spirit here. Gina takes a 70's-style, rundown shop, transforms it into a modern showplace, and then hangs the famous photograph of Madame C.J. Walker on the wall. Another stylist on staff, Miss Josephine (Alfre Woodard), is prone to burst out with Maya Angelou verse in moments of dramatic excess. Finally, a visit from a local radio personality offers an example of the power of Black marketing and the Black dollar.

All of these niceties are nice but they don't add up to a great movie. "Beauty Shop" does avoid many of the cliches of the hair care genre. For one, there is no flamboyant Black homosexual. But in the place of these tired acts, this film offers what are, by now, equally frequent stereotypes, like prissy White girls, and some poor soul who has hair like Don King. Most of the characters are forgettable, as is what they have to say.

Queen Latifah has definitely had some hits as an actress. She is certainly capable of better than this. In the fierce movie money-making that is going on, I hope that more of Black Hollywood can move away from the formulaic. Sure, we will continue to be lured into theaters by such comforting themes as the corner barbershop, the beauty shop and big momma's good cooking. But if there isn't anything new to say, maybe it's time to move on.

"Guess Who"— Dating for the MTV Generation

Several seasons now of playing the Poppa Don't Take No Mess dad on his television show has, oddly enough, molded Bernie Mac into the perfect candidate to take on the thorny subject of interracial dating in his new movie, "Guess Who." Shed of his annoying bug-eyed routine of the past, Mac presents the right blend of race savvy, stubbornness, belligerence and protectiveness toward his daughter that gives "Guess Who" moments of rare authenticity for a studio comedy about race.

This isn't the funniest movie, but Mac and the rest of the cast, aided by a decent script, turn out an interracial dating movie about that tiny demographic that is the integrated MTV generation. Based on the dramas on that channel's reality television shows, young Blacks and Whites fall more easily into interracial relationships, even though we know that the predominant configuration of these relationships, and those of older couples, is between a Black man and a White woman.

In "Guess Who," which is a takeoff on the 1963 classic "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," Percy Jones (Mac) is surprised when his daughter Theresa (Zoe Saldana), a photographer, brings home a white boyfriend, Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher). While it is obvious that Percy is irked by Simon's whiteness, he is made more suspicious of him by Simon's ill-fated efforts to impress him, and by secrets he suspects that Simon is hiding. Simon, an investment banker, in turn, feels that he is walking on eggshells to prove that he is not a racist, and is intimidated by Percy's demeanor and temper. The majority of the story is a battle of wills between the father and the suitor, with Percy taking great measure to keep Simon from sleeping with his daughter while the couple is visiting. This age-old battle, combined with riffs on male-female relationships in general, give the film its best shot at humor.

The bubbly chemistry between Kutcher and Saldana infuses the film with a sweetness and poignancy. At the same time, the story does not reveal to us what binds them to each other. And when it does deal directly with race, it usually does so just above our heads, with jokes. We know that the young couple here faces hate but we never witness this. We know that a culture that reinforces White female standards of beauty is less comfortable with a Black woman being chosen by a White man as a partner but no one discusses this. These are weighty matters and this film is supposed to make us laugh. In a twist toward its conclusion, the film does, very deftly and in one fell swoop, deal with bigotry versus the power of racism, and its impact on the young couple. And that moment, I think, makes this a deeper movie than it would appear, at first, to be. (First Published March 25, 2005)

Every April, They Remember Death in Rwanda

Perhaps no film can adequately convey the horror of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, during which close to one million men, women and children were slaughtered over the course of three months. But a new film on HBO, "Sometimes In April," gets closer to the truth than any film so far, and, yes, that's including the acclaimed "Hotel Rwanda."

In the mean hustle of film deals and distribution, perhaps the director of "Sometimes in April," Raoul Peck, did not have the studio connections or the star power of Don Cheadle that allowed the independently produced "Hotel Rwanda" to tip toe into theatrical release. While "Sometimes In April" may lack the cast and cache, it is chock full of the history, depth and dimension of terror that "Hotel Rwanda" lacks. Perhaps such comparisons are unfair. There can certainly be more than one movie about the this gruesome chapter in history—no doubt there will be more—just like films about the Jewish Holocaust are too numerous to count. On the other hand, with Cheadle's very deserved Oscar nomination, and with "Hotel Rwanda" still playing on some screens, comparisons are difficult to avoid.

In "Sometimes in April," Peck shows the same passion for the history and stories of the African diaspora, told through the eyes of African people, that he showed in his 2001 film, "Lumumba." The primary focus here is on two brothers on opposite sides of the conflict—Augustin Muganza, played impressively by Idris Elba ("The Wire") and Honoré Muganza, played by Oris Erhuero. Their relationship serves as a lightening rod of tension throughout and allows us to understand, on an individual level, how an entire country could descend into barbaric killing, especially with the aid of mass media broadcasting hate. Honoré is a radio commentator who, perhaps unwittingly, helps to whip the Hutu majority into a killing spree against civilian Tutsis, who were ethnic minorities but long favored by the country's Belgian colonizers for being taller, lighter-skinned and having keener features. The brothers are Hutu but Augustin is married to a Tutsi and the couple has three children. As we watch the impact of the country's madness on this one family, we witness, in almost panoramic fashion, an entire country in the throes of self-destruction.

Adding to this panorama of horror and the quality of the storytelling is the fact that this film was shot on location inside Rwanda, as opposed to the set of "Hotel Rwanda" in South Africa. Many actual scenes of mass killings are the setting for this production. Rwanda's roads become, again, byways of quick death. The diverse faces of the country's people are featured too, sometimes in lingering close-ups, that remind us of each human being behind the faceless death toll.

Some of the scenes of are graphic, far more so than in "Hotel Rwanda." In towns, along rural roads, and in swamps, corpses dot the landscape. And while there are a few shocking scenes of murder—in one, a mother is shot in the head at point blank range—the rampant rape and sexual abuse of women that occurred is not depicted in a graphic manner but is described. "Sometimes in April" is not an easy story; it is a gripping one, one steeped in truth, history and, as it promotes itself, "a million true stories," which it will not allow the world to wrap into a neat package, or forget.

Esther Iverem's reviews of "Sometimes in April" also appeared on www.BET.com.

— April 1, 2005

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