This quote is from acclaimed African-American filmmaker George Tillman Jr. speaking about why he wrote and directed the 1997 landmark movie Soul Food, which starred Vanessa Williams, Nia Long and Vivica A. Fox and went on to become a hit Showtime series. Making Soul Food helped Tillman move on after his first film, 1994's Scenes from the Soul, was shelved indefinitely by a studio that went out of business.
The fact that Scenes from the Soul never found an audience was especially painful to Tillman, since he financed the indie film on a shoestring budget of $150,000 that he painstakingly collected over the course of two years from everyday people who donated anywhere from $500 to $5,000. This was before the days of crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter and Gofundme.
"These investors that we found were not investors who were doctors or lawyers," Tillman said in an interview featured in the excellent book Why We Make Movies: Black Filmmakers Talk About the Magic of Cinema. "They were investors like plumbers and guys who did regular jobs."
Having been vindicated by the success of Soul Food, Tillman has gone on to direct such critically acclaimed films as 2000's Men of Honor starring Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr., 2009's Notorious (the life story of rapper Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace) and the 2010 action movie Faster starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
I recently came across Tillman's most recent movie, a delightful little film called The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013). It's a simple, well-made, coming-of-age story about two boys of different races whose unlikely friendship endures despite enormous obstacles.
 |
| Click here to watch the trailer for Mister & Pete |
Mister & Pete tells the story of a street-smart African-American preteen named Mister (Skylan Brooks) and an innocent, baby-faced Korean boy named Pete (Ethan Dizon ). Pete's mom is abusive and he comes to stay with Mister and his mom, but when the police raid the apartment and arrest Mister's mom for drug possession, Mister and Pete are left to fend for themselves over the course of an entire summer.
The movie has powerful performances by American Idol alums Jennifer Hudson, who is almost unrecognizeable as Gloria, Pete's meth-addicted single mother, and Jordin Sparks, playing against her squeaky-clean image as Alice, whose path out of the 'hood is by having an affair with a wealthy married man who showers her with gifts. Jeffrey Wright (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) and Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) have memorable cameos as a homeless man and neighborhood drug dealer, respectively.
Both Brooks and Dizon are skillful beyond their years, making their characters and the predicaments they find themselves in seem very believable. Brooks especially stands out in portraying Mister, who is unfortunately wise beyond his years because he's been exposed to way too many adult things.
Mister wants to be an actor and is convinced that he's going to be cast on a TV show that's shooting in Beverly Hills and he'll be able to rescue his little family from their hellish New York housing project.
One of the most touching scenes is when Mister is trying to make breakfast, but there's not enough cereal or milk. He looks momentarily depressed, but soon perks up when he notices the Eddie Murphy/Dan Akroyd movie Trading Places on TV. He recites every line by heart. This scene shows pop culture is the great equalizer, providing normalcy even when you're starving.
Another poignant scene is when Mister sees his mother shooting up and angrily tells her, "You're disgusting. I wish you would just die already."
Gloria looks hurt, and after a long pause, replies, "At least we got that in common."
Mister & Pete is a bit depressing at times, but it has an inspirational ending and an important message: no one can make it on their own. It's a movie every filmmaker - especially filmmakers of color - should see.
No comments:
Post a Comment