Jason's Lyric

One endeavor in filmmaking that quite frequently doesn't turn out well is mixing genres. "Jason's Lyric" combines crime drama, love story, and ghetto film-and does it surprisingly beautifully. The acting is remarkable, the script is remarkable, and the emotion is remarkable. This movie could have turned out very pretentious and very cheesy. Apparently, the directors, writers, and producers completely acknowledged this, and refused to let that happen. The characters are very well developed and, while the movie doesn't justify Josh's actions, it does convey compassion for him. It also provides new insight on what it's really like to live in a ghetto. If you can find this movie (after all, I saw it on Showtime and haven't the video in any stores) totally see it!!!!

Interesting to have an all black cast black on black love scenes plus multiple literary quotations including one from John Donne. Acting by Allen Payne and Bokeem Woodbine particularly effective.

When it comes to Lisa Nicole Carson it is just as important WHAT she plays, as HOW she plays it! In the "Homeywoods" of America, a woman that is: big bottomed, small waisted, chested is the ideal woman!This is regardless of whether she is a buggy-whipped armed ballerina, or a plus-size shot putter. This standard of beauty was NEVER expressed in mass media until Jackee Harry played the sophisticated Sandra Clark in the sitcom "227". A perfect throwback to this is Lisa Nicole Carson.

Lisa gave a heartfelt performance in Jason's lyric as Marti. She made you feel for Marti in her hopes to find a romantic like Lyric did. However she will never play a romantic lead because those roles are reserved almost exclusively for women who are little more than hair and bones! Women that had physiques like Lisa Carson were called "healthy" until the 1960s; then skeletal British model Twiggy changed everything! All Lisa has to do is act, so that she can open the door for REAL WOMEN to advance in the discipline of acting!

This film pretty much came out at a time when more and more films featuring blacks in positive images were coming out. This film came out around the same time as another film that Jada Pinkett was in, The Inkwell. However, this film tries to be three films at once. First its a story about the tragic events in the brother's past. The second story is almost an urban version of "Romeo and Juliet". The third plot revolves around how Jason's brother constantly gets into trouble leading to his tragic end. The love story would have been enough for me because it shows that African Americans can have very loving relationships and can be romantic. Unfortunately, in the end it turns into a typical bloody shootout, but it does have a twist ending and that helped to save it.

It isn't often that you get to see a compelling film that deals with human sacrifices, love and the courage to find a true identity to lead a good moral life. . .

Jason's Lyric was one film that became that testament of many issues combined. For me it's not just a film but more in terms of reaching out to those unfortunate souls living a somber life and helping to reflect on those wishing to make a change for the best.

Allan Payne, Jada Pinkett and Bokeem Woodbine all give electrifying performances. One of the strongest issues the film dealt with was Payne's relationship as a brother to troubled Woodbine. The disturbing part for me though was Forest Whittaker's performance as the father who go's berserk after the Vietnam War, losing all sense of morality for himself and his family.

A brilliant film, I can't recommend this film enough.

8/10