Tag Archives: Black Drama

The Trip to Bountiful

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The Trip to BountifulRelease Date:  March 8, 2014 (Made-for-TV; Lifetime Network)
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  Not Available
Studio:  Ostar Productions/Lifetime Television
Director:  Michael Wilson
Cast:  Cicely Tyson (Mrs. Watts), Vanessa Williams (Jessie Mae Watts), Blair Underwood (Ludie Watts), Clancy Brown (Sheriff) Keke Palmer (Thelma).

Story:  As reported on January 6, 2014 by Broadway World, The Trip to Bountiful is a television adaptation of American playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote’s Tony nominated play. Set during the final years of the Jim Crow South, the film follows one woman’s quest to reconnect with her past in order to ensure her family’s future.

In The Trip to Bountiful, Carrie Watts (Tyson, who was awarded with a Tony for her role in the Broadway revival), begrudgingly lives with her busy, overprotective son, Ludie (Underwood) and pretentious daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae (Williams). No longer able to drive and forbidden to travel alone, she wishes for freedom from the confines of the house and begs her son to take her on a visit to her hometown of Bountiful. When he refuses, Mrs. Watts is undeterred and makes an escape to the local bus station, where she befriends Thelma (Palmer), a young woman traveling home. When Ludie and Jessie Mae discover she is gone, they call in law enforcement to help, but Mrs. Watts is one step ahead of them and convinces the local sheriff to help her on her journey home to Bountiful.  (Source(s):  Broadway World).

Trailer:

Fruitvale Station

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Fruitvale StationRelease Date: 1/14/14 (DVD); 7/12/13 (theatrical)
Genre: Drama/Biography
Rating: R
Running Time: 85 mins.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Director: Ryan Coogler
Cast: Michael B. Jordan (Oscar Grant)
Melonie Diaz (Sophina)
Octavia Spencer (Wanda)
Kevin Durand (Officer Caruso)
Chad Michael Murray (Officer Ingram)
Story: Winner of both the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. True story of Oscar, a 22 year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on New Year’s Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend, who he hasn’t been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to T, their beautiful 4 year-old daughter. He starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easy. He crosses paths with friends, family, and strangers, each exchange showing that there is much more to Oscar than meets the eye. But it would be his final encounter of the day, with police officers at the Fruitvale BART station, that would shake the Bay Area to its very core, and cause the entire nation to be witnesses to the story of Oscar Grant. (Synopsis taken from official Facebook site).

Trailer