Originally posted to Seattle Screen Scene on April 4, 2019

In Khalik Allah’s debut documentary, Field Niggas, the focus was precise. He returned again and again to a single street corner – the power of the film derived from his commitment to capturing this environment, the specific light, and the people who roamed about. His camera was up close to his subjects, his gaze meeting them head-on. His follow-up, Black Mother, is in every sense a much more expansive, diffuse…

The final scene is indicative of the issues at play here. It is a small revelation from one character to another, a surprise, deepening the connection between them, an homage to their past, a tribute. But it's all wrong. The rhythm is too fast, there's no patience, no poetry - my auteurist broken brain for some reason made a connection to Crowe's We Bought a Zoo and the ending of that film, where Crowe takes his time, showing the emotional…

Cinema without risk. A director waving his hands without purpose, barreling through imagery he is unprepared to deal with and settling for cheap shortcuts (the shots with the shoes). What does this have to say about fascism or life under it, its effects on people? It is empty caricature, settling finally on a coming of age story that's maudlin and without distance - forget about everything and dance! Ultimately, Waititi seeks to do two things: redeem those living under fascism…