A Good Black Flick?

It's not always as easy to come by a good black movie. I don't mean nigga flicks. Those movies, produced a dime a dozen and are often set in the impoverished inner city. The acting is bad, the characters are flat & inconsistent, and they focus more on dazzling the audience with onslaughts of violence, Ebonics, and stereotyped behavior. After sitting through what seems like a thousand of these at the request of friends, I wonder, is it really that much easier for people of color to relate to nigga flicks, action, and bad comedy than any other kind of movie? Other times you find that you have slept on a good one because you can't make heads or tails out of what the film is supposed to be about based on the trailer.



Boyz in the Hood- although set in South Central, captured the essence and the paradoxical dilemmas of inner city youth coming of age. Whether you actually enjoyed it or not the film featured the juxtaposition and social dynamics amongst several different kinds of black people: the hard working father, the single mom: -both the attentive kind and neglectful, the super religious but out of touch grandmother guardian, the racist black cop, the good girl, the teen mom, crackheads, overweight children, criminals, high school drop-outs, high school college candidates etc. It is unfortunate how an relatively thought provoking film that was box office and socially successful, can spawn a whole genre of superficial copy-cats. Since then we've been put through  Juice, Colors, Paid in Full,  Ghetto Stories, Baby Boy, New Jersey Drive, I Got the Hook Up- (really any movie by No Limit Entertainment)

Movie watching with friends I have noticed the penchant that black people have for action and comedy.  I'll be the first to say I don't like the cinematic formula of action as a genre but I do have quite a few exceptions. For me, there has to be a good story in place to make all of the action seem appropriate. Unfortunately  I don't take as much pleasure in watching black comedic films because it always seems to be the same kind of humor: much slapstick, loud, Oh-no-she-didn't predictable kind of humor. Sometimes its difficult to judge whether a movie will be a good one since there is very little diversity in the way that films made by people of color are marketed. This is a major problem. Sometimes you think a flick is gonna be stupid. Once it's on television you watch it and find that it was quite interesting and nothing like the trailer alluded to. But by now too late to go out and support.

Many films staring black actors are were not actually produced or directed by anyone of color. Therefore many good movies staring black actors are not listed. Below is an short incomplete list good black non-documentary movies. Enjoy and tell me yours if you can.

Love and Basketball                    The Color Purple      
Mahogany                                   Love Jones
Mo Better Blues                          Waiting to Exhale
New Jack City                            Grid Locked
Men in Black
The Wiz                                      Native Son
Boyz in the Hood                         Men in Black
Do the Right Thing                       Why Did I get Married
Malcom X
Friday (only the first 1)
Soul Food (the movie)