Mixing Nia

Dad is white, mom is black. Nia grew up and went to school in the New Jersey suburbs, and doesn't know anything about living and being black. She tries a couple of boyfriends. One has the map of africa in his bedroom, the other is a preppy ivy-league type. Asked to choose, she can't. Help comes from a house-mate musician, who plays different instruments to her hears and eyes shut, asking her to choose the right sound for her. And after she chooses and opens her eyes, she asks what instrument it was, and adding more insecurity, it was a Senegalese musical instrument. Eventually, Nia finds her voice. Was shown in Pittsburgh in 1999 at the second annual afro-american film festival.

The thing that struck me most about this film, was that it was a very personal look into a someone's life. On the surface, that would make it inaccessible to most, but in fact the exact opposite is true. It touches on some universal truths about finding one's way (or one's voice) in the face of so many conflicting influences. Although, I wouldn't dare relate my own experiences to those of Nia. It's nice to see a film that can speak to many and few at the same time.

This movie explores some potentially explosive ideas, but does so in a very light and good humored way--which is very refreshing in light of the desperately serious and overwrought works usually associated with racial issues (see anything by Spike Lee for an example).

Nia is about as white bread, middle class and suburban as they come. Problem is her mother is black, dad white. What's the problem? She fits perfectly into mainstream culture in work, manner of dress, attitudes, speech, books. But her life is somewhat upended when she quits her job over an objectionable advertising assignment related to marketing beer to the inner city. This raises her consciousness about her own situation and racial identity, and triggers the age old search for "who I am."

The problems Nia faces are pretty standard for any young woman: job, family, friends, and romance. Each one is examined as Nia, a genuinely nice person, tries to deal with the extra layer of difficulty presented by being biracial.

Finding a boyfriend to suit her takes up most of the time. She is torn between the two worlds in the form of two suitors. Unfortunately these two worlds are represented by two basic stereotypes: An Afrocentric, jargon spouting, sexually aggressive black activist who hilariously wants to segregate Nia's books, black authors from white authors. The white suitor is a geeky pretty boy upper crust optimist who can't dance and is hopelessly clumsy in seducing Nia. The movie is most interesting when departing from these crude stereotypes, like Nia's hamfisted attempt at fitting into black culture by taking her black boyfriend to a soul restaurant only to find that he's a vegetarian and can't eat anything on the menu.

The movie tends to concentrate on Nia's attempt to come to terms with her black half--sometimes directly at odds with her otherwise white existence: She is shocked when she hears her new boyfriend and a black female friend's cruel racism against her white friend; or when her very liberal white father confronts her new black boyfriend's anti-integrationism.

The movie doesn't offer any real resolution, nor is one really expected. This is a modest movie, exploring some sensitive issues in a very lighthearted way. The flaws are minor, some stereotyping in order to get a point across, and some attempts at humor which don't quite work, but altogether an enjoyable attempt to bring down the volume.

I loved the movie, I thought it had a few funny scenes. It was a good decent movie that you can watch with your parents. Karen played Nia well, and I liked the guy that lived under her, though he did not have many parts. I did have a problem with one thing, A white parent, and a black parent, cannot make a black child! I am Irish and black, and I have straight red hair, green eyes, and snow-white skin, but I do not go around saying that I'm just "Irish", I say that I am Irish and Black, because that is what I am, even if I look only white.

A thoroughly enjoyable film about a mixed race woman finding her roots in New York City. Nia is a successful copywriter living a white yuppie life style. When she is asked to make an advertising campaign selling beer to ghetto kids, she leaves in disgust and embarks on a journey of self discovery. Along the way she acquires her first black boyfriend as well as a number of other admirers. And finally finds who she really is.

This film is beautifully shot in NYC and uses some very interesting locations. The pace of the film is well set and you never get the feeling that when is it going to end. What I found very admirable was that it was not and did not try to be judgemental about where a mixed race person should belong and comes across as just be yourself. The romance is cute and the funny parts are genuinely funny. Altogether an excellent film... now if only it was available on DVD ;-)