I Am Not Your Negro,
directed by Raoul Peck
(PG-13, 95 minutes )
Haitian-born filmmaker Raoul Peck's documentary is less about intellectual black gay writer James Baldwin's later life (it starts as he returns from self-imposed exile in France in 1957) than a collaboration with the author. It can be seen as the completion of Baldwin's abandoned project Remember This House, in which he attempted to present a unified field theory of race in America through an examination of the lives and works of three assassinated black leaders -- Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. -- whom Baldwin had befriended.
Yet I Am Not Your Negro is really about the comforting lies we tell ourselves about how we've arrived in the present moment.
Peck takes his script from Baldwin's words that diagnose the American condition as preserved in notes, essays, interviews and letters. Samuel L. Jackson reads some of these words. Others are delivered by Baldwin in archival television footage and old radio broadcasts.
"History is the present," the film quotes Baldwin as saying. "We carry our history with us. To think otherwise is criminal."
And, Baldwin points out, black Americans have a great advantage over their white neighbors in that they have "never believed the collection of myths to which white Americans cling: that their ancestors were all freedom-loving heroes, that they were born in the greatest country the world has ever seen, or that Americans are invincible in battle and wise in peace, that Americans have always dealt honorably with Mexicans and Indians and all other neighbors or inferiors, that American men are the world's most direct and virile, that American women are pure."
I Am Not Your Negro serves as a powerful introduction to one of the most important essayists and an enlightening critique of our ongoing condition. It ought to disturb all those who, in Baldwin's words, care exclusively for "their safety and their profits." It ought to cause us to reconsider the easy habits of thoughtlessness.
A Street Cat Named Bob (not rated, 1 hour, 43 minutes) A Cinderella-patterned comedy, with social-issue overtones in which a homeless busker with a drug-abuse problem forms an attachment with a similarly homeless ginger cat, to the benefit of both. Based on the 2012 memoir by London musician James Bowen, it's all about redemption. And cute cats. With Luke Treadway, Anthony Head, Joanne Froggatt, Ruta Gedmints; directed by Roger Spottiswoode.
Things to Come (L'avenir) (PG-13, 1 hour, 40 minutes) A sensitive, affecting character study of revelation and self-discovery involves high-school philosophy teacher Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert) who enjoys life with her husband, two children and possessive mother, until her husband announces he's leaving her for another woman. That's when she must re-invent her life. With Edith Scot, Andre Marcon, Sarah Le Picard; directed by Mia Hansen-Love. Subtitled.
Fifty Shades Darker (R, 1 hour, 55 minutes) Few films have endured such critical abuse as the Fifty Shades franchise, and this sequel to 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey has been determined by some critics to be the worst movie ever made. It's the twisted tale of a creepy master-slave relationship between billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan)and Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), which comes complete with S&M overtones and what people will go through to control others. Despite its earnest emphasis on the role of sex in power negotiations, it still provokes some laughs, if unintentionally. With Bella Heathcote, Luke Grimes, Kim Basinger, Victor Rasuk, Marcia Gay Harden; directed by James Foley.
A Fantastic Fear of Everything (R, 2 hours, 21 minutes) Even the best actors can wear out an audience if they're on the screen too long. And 141 minutes of Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is, well, too long. In this comedy he plays a children's author who, after switching to penning crime novels, finds himself tormented by the irrational idea that he's about to be murdered. There are some of those Pegg-centric absurd moments that bring on laughs, but most of the screentime feels artificial and forced. With Amara Karan, Sheridan Smith; directed by Crispian Mills and Chris Hopewell.
The Godfather (R, 2 hours, 55 minutes) and The Godfather: Part II (R, 3 hours, 22 minutes)
Francis Ford Coppola's brace of remarkable Mafia movies (let's not bring up the third installment) have been buffed and polished for special 45th anniversary Blu-ray editions. The Godfather, starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan and Talia Shire, tells an epic tale of mafia life in America during the '40s and '50s; while Godfather: Part II traces the rise of Vito Coreleone (Robert De Niro) in the 1920s. Both include hours of bonus content, such as commentary by director Coppola on all three films, behind-the-scenes features, as well as a look at the films' endurance and their impact on pop culture.
MovieStyle on 05/12/2017