So, I've returned from a productive weekend in Buffalo, (hard to imagine that Carl Palladino hails from such a friendly place) searching for wedding and bridesmaid dresses for the upcoming nuptials of my dear baby sister. It was less painful than I imagined, and surprisingly enough-I've returned without a scratch,egos are in tact and my sister, mom and I agreed on EVERYTHING! I love my dress, and I cannot wait to stand behind my sister who will be beautiful as she walks down the aisle.
This weeks "In My Humble Opinion" is a review of the movie that my mother, sister and I saw this weekend during our bonding session. My mother is a Tyler Perry fan and as her daughters, we like to make her happy. Even though we are both "adults" now we owe it our mother to be seen and not heard since we were not those children growing up and she never ceases to remind my sister and I that we are responsible for for turning her hair completely silver hair at the tender age of 63.
My sister and I tend to be movie snobs (maybe we're snobs in general) much to the chagrin of my poor mother who just wants to "watch the bloody movie in peace!" So out of respect to her, we stayed silent throughout the movie (and afterwards) when she asked us what we thought of the movie. In unison, we responded "It was good!" Then quickly walked to the car without another word as my mom went on and on about how powerful the movie was. Olivia vigorously nodded her head in agreement (she was asleep for most of it) and I just kept repeating how beautiful Thandie Newton is. As my mother taught me, if I didn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all...
....that is until you have a blog and you can say whatever the hell you like! So here, in my humble opinion, are my thoughts about For Colored Girls...
Tyler Perry's latest movie is, well, another Tyler Perry movie. For once, I would love to see him expand his repertoire by vindicating the constantly villified Black male character. In this film he is the "down-low brother who lies to himself, his wife and his community," or the Black war veteran who struggles with alcohol and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, abuses his children and his wife( that he clearly wants to marry yet alienates her and his loved ones because he won't get help). These characters, need love and support too, but Perry never gives it to them.
With the success of his last project, "Precious," based on the novel "Push", by Sapphire, perhaps Mr. Perry felt emboldened to take on another extraordinary peice of literature-"For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf," by Ntozake Shange. This time, Mr. Perry writes, and directs.
For Colored Girls and Precious both take place in Harlem, and both deal with abuse and neglect, but where "Precious" was cohesive, poignant and sadly realistic, "For Colored Girls" was disjointed, far-reaching and cliche.
While Perry tried to stay true to the theme of Shange's play, rape, abandoment and abortion, I think he got in over his head by incorporating her monologues into the character's dialogue. It was distracting and judging from the giggling and obnoxious comments coming from the audience, with regard to one of the character's diatribes they could not comprehend the metaphors and symbolism within Shange's monologues. (This too made the movie hard to watch).
The calibre of acting was extraordinary in this film. Of notable mention is Macy Gray's commanding monologue right before her character is about to perform a risky abortion. Her rambling, drunken prose is fitting here, since we are aware that her character is an alcoholic, and her rambling makes sense to the viewer. However,it does not work when two characters are having a normal conversation and one of them goes off on a seemingly endless tangent, which has nothing to do with what the characters were originally discussing. Finally, there were too many plots, characters and issues to be dealt with-far too many to be adequately addressed in a two hour film. In any event, Perry assembled a phenomenal cast. It's unfortunate that their talents were wasted on this film.
It was ambitious for Perry to take such a serious play and tack it onto his own work. It is irresponsible and tacky, and it does not do Shange's or his own work justice. "For Colored Girls" is a serious work that deserves a stage of is own.
And...in saying this, please keep in mind that this is only...
MY HUMBLE OPINION...
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