Is That Black Enough for You?!? (2022)

Is That Black Enough for You?!? (2022)

An encyclopedic lesson in film history with a sharp and funny personal edge

7.0

Movie

United States of America
English
Documentary
2022
ELVIS MITCHELL
Antonio Fargas, Billy Dee Williams, Charles Burnett
135 min

What it's about

A look at the Black revolution in 1970s cinema, from genre films to social realism, from the making of new superstars to the craft of rising auteurs.

The take

A deep dive into African-American cinema in the 1970s, Is That Black Enough for You?!? may at times feel like an extended audiovisual Wikipedia article, but it convincingly sets up its ideas in breezy, entertaining fashion. And it successfully argues that Hollywood today just hasn't cashed in on the wealth of innovative Black art that already existed 50 years ago. At the center of this talking heads documentary is director and narrator Elvis Mitchell, who elevates the assembled footage with frank commentary that isn't afraid to make things personal or to throw shade at other filmmakers who've made a career out of appropriating Black film traditions.

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