Black Nativity

Going in I knew this was a movie with music and that's what it is, versus a "musical" like Les Miserables, where there's singing throughout opera-style.

The good

All the actors stand out and do their characterizations well. Especially Jennifer Hundson as Naima, the single mom raising a boy-child on her own without help and estranged from her parents. Especially Tyrese who really shows his gentle side as Tyson. His body and face marked with scars, he looks like a thug but has a worldly view as he tries to steer young Langston to the right side of life. Especially Forrest Whitaker who characterizes the Reverend Cobb. Stern, unyielding but with a soft side. Especially the music that soars and transforms the screen into a gospel show near the end. Director Kasi Lemmons ("Eve's Bayou") integrates stage show with movie set ala "Rent". The story of a young boy struggling to find answers and being pulled toward wrongful ways is simplified and strikes just the right tone with spirituality and religiousness.

The bad

Near the end the drama is laid on thick.

See it! This is the only "live" action musical of the year and while it is based on a little known play written by Langston Hughes, it's a triumphant interpretation on film.

I really would have given it a higher rating but I wasn't 100% crazy about all of the singing. I loved the story line and the cast was phenomenal. Overall everyone did a really good job with the acting and singing. So many of my favorites in one film is really a treat. I will be telling everyone I know about this movie.It should be watched by all who value family and faith. This situation plagues many minority homes. Holding on to the anger, hurt of misunderstandings for years when it can be fixed with communication, respect, honesty and forgiveness.I wasn't sure about whether it would be good in the beginning but very pleased I stuck it out and even got my hubby-to-be to watch it with me and he liked it also.

Some critiques of this movie paint it as too cheesy or clichéd. It is those things. But the screenwriter was kind of between a rock and a hard place, as one often is in transcribing the work for one medium into another. It wasn't written as a screenplay, but the screenwriters had to walk the line between a full adaptation to film on the one hand, and staying as true as possible to Langston Hughes's vision on the other. It's a little rough in parts, and any time someone is singing in a bus station you gotta look at them askance... but still, the conveyance of the story, and the coming together of this family, in this very evangelical style (totally agreeing with Roger Ebert here), along with the star performances of these actors and singers, ensures that "its rough aspects are easy to forgive."

Not a great, great film, as films go. But for a theatrical adaptation of a play on screen, with music, and a voyage/story that speaks to many... Very much worth dedicating 90 minutes to.

What can I say of this wonderful piece of cinematic gold? I was hooked from the inaugural bundle of photons emitted from that silver screen which darted across the darkened theater, striking my rods and cones, stimulating my visual cortex into effervescent fits of orgiastic black biblical entertainment.

Not since Tyler Perry's latest classic have I witness such an incredible ensemble of all black Christian-rivisionism, which adheres in no way to Christian theological scholarship.

This film, I'm convinced, along with Tyler Perry's eschatological works, will forever be remembered as the uniting impetus which was portended in the great words of Malcolm X, "There can be no black-white unity until there is first some black unity."

TL;DR - Black science, black "christian" folk customs, tyler perry, malcolm x, fist.

I was, for the most part, feeling pleasant enough about this... until that ending.

It's not that 'Black Nativity' ends badly, it's just so incredibly forced and cringeworthy. It's a Christmas film so I guess I could cut it some slack, but I feel it could've concluded things much better. Some of the character decisions felt odd at times, also.

One of the reasons as to why I was actually finding this satisfactory throughout is the cast - loads of recognisable and likeable faces. Forest Whitaker (Cornell) is honestly great, his performance is the only one I'd class as anything over 'good'. Jacob Latimore (Langston) and Angela Bassett (Aretha) are the best of the rest, though I always like watching 'Fast & Furious' star Tyrese Gibson act too.

All in all, nothing positive or negative... just average.