The Obituary of Tunde Johnson

I've seen a lot of "groundhog" day movies. Some I really liked, some not and some of them I just liked the first time. Most of them were funny and I surely mourned the dead.

But I was never so attached. I've never been as distressed and sad about every single dead and I've never been so scarred for the upcoming even I knew it comes.

I'm shocked and I'm so so sorry.

In the account of Tunde Johnson, a wealthy Nigerian-American youth, tragedy strikes when he is fatally shot by the police during a routine traffic stop. Yet, his demise is not final, as he finds himself ensnared in a perplexing time loop, condemned to relive the day of his untimely demise repeatedly. This ordeal compels Tunde to confront profound truths about his existence and grapple with the complexities of his identity.

Despite the weighty themes of racism and police brutality, the narrative execution falls short of its potential. While the portrayal of the interracial gay relationship between Tunde and Soren is commendable, the story's delivery lacks the gripping tension necessary to convey its message effectively. The cast, including Spencer Neville as Soren and Nicola Peltz as Marley, delivers solid performances, but the overall impact of the film feels somewhat squandered.

Firstly, I'm dedicated to writing honest and thoughtful reviews in full english words without all caps, exclamation points and other useless shapes. Secondly, I gave this movie a 6 because the atypical character perspective puts well known topics in review from layers that are unique and worthy of discussion. However, the execution can use some work. I didn't find too much character development to understand why they behaved the way they did or why I should ultimately care about it. With such a strong opening scene, I became invested in the character but then quickly lost him to a lot of general subject matter. The secondary characters were also so one dimensional and lost in "subjects" that it almost made the topics unserious.

I would recommend this movie for mature audiences that are curious about a unique take on a pervasive subject matter - but I would not make it movie night material due to lack of coherent character and story development.

Whatever the director was thinking, it stayed in his head. For the rest of us, we watch a movie that flashes with greatness, shows potential, and leaves us with Meh, whatever.

I enjoyed most of the story, sometimes the main character is a bit frustrating not to learn from his situation, but your drawn into his life and looking at possibilities. Then the director wants to end it all artsy and you're left with "that's it?".

Flawed (aren't we all) but boldly creative. First, LeRoi is responsible for the inimitable "Everybody Hates Chris". Second, it's a sincere attempt to analyse the reality of "driving while Black". Third, certain elements of this film are unlikely to have happened at all without Barry Jenkins's "Moonlight" (2016); but where Jenkins wove a thread of class critique throughout his landmark black-on-black outing, LeRoi's piece is set in a body-temperature porridge of privilege, be that black or white. The fact that Tunde's paramour is a classic white jock in denial is key to the huge difference in tone and intention between Jenkins and LeRoi. That said, LeRoi was wise to choose someone with the depth of Steven Silver, whereas the actor Neville tends to be two-dimensional. The mix of sci-fi, Groundhog Day and drama is an adventurous one with all the attendant risks. I recommend partnering the film with the outstanding "Fruitvale Station" (2013, Ryan Coogler), a director Tunde claims to adore, along with writer Teju Cole (Nigerian) whose debut novel "Open City" knocked the critics sideways. Certainly, LeRoi is anchored and has done his homework, which suggests his collaboration on Chris Rock's turkey "Head of State" was to pay off some grim lawsuit. Interestingly, the undercurrent of this movie explain the extraordinary friendship between the "hated" Chris and his white sidekick Stanley and LeRoi's evident understanding of the many faces of love. But back to the class issue: note that most of the young blacks recently slaughtered in the US are from the so-called "lower" classes. Meanwhile, the roadside pullover by white cops references the parallel scene in "Crash" with the wealthy black couple's humiliation. Driving while black is neither a joke nor a media fantasy, it's an everyday reality for thousands of American citizens whose deficit of whiteness puts them in the wrong place at the wrong time. "I will no longer die, I have become two hundred hills rolled into one, I am immovable," quoth Tunde on his nth round of assassination (the right word for his mode of death). Screenwriter Stanley Kalu has done an astonishing job, especially since he and the director anticipated George Floyd's murder and the consequent BLM movement, whose echoes will continue to resound worldwide as long as race continues to divide: the dying Tunde is on the ground in a police stranglehold and tries to utter the words "I can't breathe".