2004/2005 were difficult years for me. I was newly diagnosed with an illness. I had been hospitalized. I lost my job because they didnt feel like I could handle it. That summer was the summer of Daniel Sunjata. I became obsessed with him. He didnt live far from me (until he moved to Harlem). I went from not knowing who he was to needing to know all the things. That summer, I went to see a movie by Woody Allen (First and last) called Melinda Melinda, Daniel was in and he lost his girlfriend to Will Ferell doing a horrible Woody Allen impression. I was stunned. I walked out of the theatre thinking, If Daniel Sunjata was completely white or could pass better, he would be Matthew Mconablahblah. He would be in all the rom coms and love interests and Hed be the Guy trying to get a girl in 10 days (love that movie.). I decided to write a movie for him. I came up with a concept and a plot, the only thing missing was me not being a screenwriter but… this is not the point of the story. The point of the story is that in the summer of 2005, I saw every single romantic comedy that was released in theaters. Im not exaggerating. I saw every single romantic comedy that came out in 2005. All of them. Some were good. Some were God awful. Most of those had Ashton Kutcher in them. But as I sat there in the dark, I kept thinking Im relating to Jennifer Lopezs character I know what that feels like. I understand what that older lady with the dog and whatever, I understood her too. I related to these women on some level. I studied the genre so when they gave the speech that they all do, it meant something to me. But none of them looked like me. Not a one. And the romantic comedies that were urban were farce and not about the romance mostly about crass comedy. I didnt like them. I wish I was capable of writing my own but in the meantime, I wanted to see one! I wanted to see one as quirky as Julia Roberts and as neurotic as… well Julia Roberts and reserved and the mama of the group. I wanted to see those friendships and relationships and those nuances and that writing with people that look like me. And tonight, I saw that. Full disclosure Denene Millner is one of my mentors. Shes one of my heroes. Shes everything to me. She and two other women wrote the book that the movie was based on so I was going to watch it regardless of anything. But I was scared I wasnt going to like it. What happened instead is that I saw exactly what I was aching for 10 years ago. Real life, real rounded, real conversation, weird premise because yall know how i feel about pressure marriages. But I KNEW those ladies. I was at different points every single one of them, except Jill Scotts character. No. When that cartoon ass girlfriend picked up the phone and dropped a bomb. Yeah. I could relate to that. I loved this movie not only because of the personal connection or the fact that it was written, directed, produced, the gaffer, camera 3 all of them Black Women. All of them. And that makes me so proud. But thats not why I loved this movie. I loved this movie because in a world that has continuously made it difficult to be both black and a woman, I got to see a reflection of my beautiful brown self on screen searching for love and wanting to be loved. And its so universal but they looked like me. And it was GOOD! I enjoyed it. Im so very happy this movie exists. I hope to God that we see that renaissance of real stories about black women. And if its the small screen that will take the action, then take it to the small screen. Just let it be shown. It needs to be seen. Sorry that was so long. My stream of consciousness writing tends to just decide when Im done for me.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 03:42:23 +0000
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