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Friday, December 10, 2010

For the sake of not having to write the same intro a million different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull process of full film reviews and instead opts to break things down based on what I thought going in, what happened while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.  Thanks for reading!




The Breakdown - Night Catches Us

The Impression:

I’m pretty unknowing about Tanya Washington, but a film about the legacy of The Black Panthers scored by The Roots and staring Anthony Mackie was a good enough draw to get me in to the theaters.


The Reality:

A very good, very small film. The story of Marcus Washington (Anthony Mackie), a former Black Panther, who returns to the scarred and broken neighborhood of his youth, is beautiful in its simplicity. There is a lot going on in the film (agendas, characters, philosophical yearnings) but Tanya Hamilton is impressive at letting them play out around the main characters, Mackie’s Marcus and his former flame Patricia (Kerry Washington). There relationship is a strong center point for the rest of the film’s discourse on the faded beliefs of the militant organization and the inspiration and trauma they helped play out on a greater scale. Aside from strong acting (Mackie does tough-guy sensitive with the best of ‘em) and a small but powerful script, the visuals of the film (by cinematographer David Tumblety) are striking. The usage of fireflies in a dramatic stand-off with the police is gorgeous and his long shots help to establish the simmering violence that bubbles beneath the surface of the film.


The Lesson:

I don’t know if I learned a lesson from this film. But I certainly enjoyed it.



 

Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and the KEXP blog.  He also has his own Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.   If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his writings here at Side One: Track One then please do so here.


- Noah Sanders -




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