Tag: Sundance Film Festival

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Release Date: 6/14/19; In Theaters
(Original Release – 1/26/19; Sundance Film Festival)
Genre:   Drama
Rating:  R
Director:  Joe Talbot
Studio(s):   A24, Longshot Features, Plan B Entertainment
Running Time:  120 mins.
Cast:  Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, Danny Glover, Mike Epps, Finn Wittrock.

Story:   Jimmie Fails has one hope in life: to reclaim the majestic Victorian house his grandfather built. Every week, Jimmie and his only friend, Montgomery, make a pilgrimage across San Francisco to Jimmie’s dream home and imagine what life would be like if this neighborhood had never changed. When they realize the house’s current owners have moved out, Jimmie decides to recreate the home his family once had. As he struggles to reconnect with his family and reconstruct the community he longs for, Jimmie’s domestic aspirations blind him to reality.  Source:  Sundance.org.

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Premature

Release Date:  2/21/20; In Theaters – Limited (Original Release: 1/26/19; Sundance Film Festival)
Genre:  Drama/Romance
Rating:  NR
Director:  Rashaad Ernesto Green
Studio(s):   Relic Pictures
Running Time:  86 mins.
Cast:  Zora Howard, Joshua Boone, Michelle Wilson, Alexis Marie Wint, Imani Lewis, Tashiana Washington.

Story:  On a summer night in Harlem during her last months at home before starting college, seventeen-year-old poet Ayanna (Zora Howard) meets Isaiah (Joshua Boone), a charming music producer who has just moved to the city. It’s not long before these two artistic souls are drawn together in a passionate summer romance. But as the highs of young love give way to jealousy, suspicion, and all-too-real consequences, Ayanna must confront the complexities of the adult world–whether she is ready or not. Emotionally raw, intimate, and honest, Premature is at once timeless and bracingly contemporary in its portrait of a young woman navigating the difficult choices that can shape a life.  Source:  Rotten Tomatoes.

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Mope

Release Date:  1/27/19; Sundance Film Festival
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  NR
Director:  Lucas Heyne
Studio(s):   Parkside Pictures, Saxton Cinema, Uncooperative Pictures
Running Time:  105 mins.

Cast:  Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Kelly Sry, Brian Huskey, Max Adler, David Arquette, Tonya Cornelisse.

Story:   In the multibillion-dollar world of pornography, the term mope refers to a low-level, wannabe porn actor who perhaps isn’t quite well endowed or otherwise attractive enough to achieve the success granted to “bigger”-name porn stars. Within the seedy underbelly of the industry, mopes are the lowest of the low, hanging around sets and taking on menial jobs with aspirations of being called upon to participate in a colossal gang-bang scene that could (but most likely won’t) lead to their big break.  Stephen Clancy Hill and Herbert Wong, respectively known by their porn alter egos Steve Driver and Tom Dong, were two such mopes—real-life best friends attempting to live the impossible porno dream, but the blurred line between reality and delusion ultimately sent them both tumbling down a path of destruction.  Source:  Sundance.org.

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Clemency

Release Date:  12/27/19; In Theaters (Original Release: 1/27/19 Sundance Film Festival)
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  NR
Director:  Chinonye Chukwu
Studio(s):   ACE Pictures Entertainment, Big Indie Pictures
Running Time:  113 mins.

Cast:  Alfre Woodard, Aldis Hodge, Richard Schiff, Wendell Pierce, Richard Gunn, Danielle Brooks.

Story:   How do you salvage your marriage when you are struggling to salvage your soul, your sense of self, and your sense of right and wrong? Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) is a prison warden who, over the years, has been drifting away from her husband while dutifully carrying out executions in a maximum security prison. When she strikes up a unique bond with death-row inmate Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge), a layer of emotional skin is peeled back, forcing Bernadine to confront the complex—and often contradictory—relationship between good intentions, unrequited desires, and what it means to be sanctioned to kill.  Source:  Sundance.org.

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Blindspotting

Release Date:  7/20/18 – Limited/In Theaters
Genre:  Comedy
Rating:  NR
Director:  Carlos López Estrada
Studio(s):   Foley Walkers Studio, Snoot Entertainment
Running Time:  95 mins.

Cast:  Daveed Diggs (Collin), Rafael Casal (Miles), Janina Gavankar (Val), Jasmine Cephas Jones (Ashley), Tisha Campbell-Martin (Mama Liz), Utkarsh Ambudkar (Rin), Kevin Carroll (James), Nyambi Nyambi (Yorkie).

Story:   Daveed Diggs plays Collin, who is trying to make it through his final days of probation for an infamous arrest he can’t wait to put behind him. Always by his side is his fast-talking childhood bestie, Miles (Rafael Casal), who has a knack for finding trouble. They grew up together in the notoriously rough Oakland, a.k.a. “The Town,” which has become the new trendy place to live in the rapidly gentrifying Bay Area.  When Collin’s chance for a fresh start is interrupted by a life-changing missed curfew, his friendship with Miles is forced out of its comfortable buddy-comedy existence, and the Bay boys are set on a spiraling collision course with each other.  Photo Source/Source(s):  Deadline.

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Monster

a/k/a All Rise

Release Date:  5/7/21; Netflix
(Original Release: 2018)
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  R
Director:   Anthony Mandler
Studio(s):  Tonik Productions, Charlevoix Entertainment, Bron Studios, Inc., Get Lifted Film Company, Netflix.
Running time:   98 mins.

Cast:  Kelvin Harrison, Jr. (Steve Harmon), Jeffrey Wright (Mr. Harmon), Jennifer Hudson (Mrs. Harmon), Jharrel Jerome (Osvaldo), Jennifer Ehle (Katherine O’Brien), Tim Blake Nelson (Leroy Sawicki), John David Washington (Richard ‘Bobo’ Evans), Dorian Missick (Asa Briggs), Lovie Simone (Renee Pickford), Nas (Raymond ‘Sunset’ Green), A$AP Rocky/Rakim Mayers (William King).

Story:   Based on the bestselling book by Walter Dean Myers.  Steve Harmon, a bright, sensitive 17-year-old, stands trial for acting as a lookout during the lethal armed robbery of a Harlem bodega. Before his arrest, he was an honors student and aspiring filmmaker taking street-level snapshots and on-the-fly footage of neighborhood life. Now, Steve is seen as just another young black criminal, assumed guilty and labeled a monster. But Steve and his lawyer declare his innocence and attempt to defy the odds in a bid to win his freedom.  Source:  Sundance.org; Photo Source:  IMDB.

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