Black Ruby

The Rome Film Awards belonged to Guillermo Del Toro's the Human Face, but I believe creativity belonged to Black Ruby, seeing what can be done with the iPhone 7. Speaking of the Human Face a nice transition for Zachary Laoutides playing Louis Katz, a musician who falls in love with a Black Hispanic escort named Ruby, played by the appealing Krystal E. Heredia. His best friend, whose trying to hold onto his adolescence, Jules Mandel, played by the pudgy Joseph Mennella, manipulates Louis, being on meds and a vagabond. Jules' father was a famous jazz musician and he faiths to follow in the notoriety, but he's not endowed and uses Louis to write him melody as well as make extra bread in street fights.

Using an analogy Louis is an attractive mistreated dog in the film, abused by his abuser his best friend Jules. The movie has insightful dark comedy commentary by Quazy a thug who coordinates street fights and is associates with the leading characters.

The film is artsy and combines cultural ingenuity, with music, race and poetic acting. I was impressed that a film like this came out of the US feeling like it should have come out of London or France.

The mates of Jules and Louis are picking the forbidden apple from the tree of good and evil not sure what they're truly embarking upon when each take a bite out of Ruby, the black harlot or as the tale calls her Black Ruby a forbidden gem. Interesting that the black hustler Quazy who set's up the street fights in the movie narrates the entire film. Good choice.

The film could have upped the sex, upped the dialogues and upped the performances. Though, the subtlety works and the artsy approach of moods and silent performances with a dab of violence secure the film. I fathom sexually I wouldn't want to see Jules Mandel, the fat waster, he is played by Joseph Mennella have erotic dealings, his 5 second awkward chubby bang was enough. Louis Katz played by Zachary Laoutides reminded me of French film flashes, he sells the sexuality with his face to a rather numb and bland Ruby, played by Krystal Heredia. I can't justify why she was so expressionless in the film, but maybe it was her character choice, but a little too distant for me to care.

The soundtrack made by Manchester's own Liam Williams is stellar and award worthy. Any Brando similarities should be attributed to Zachary Laoutides. Joseph Mennella will disappoint you if you think he is anything close to Brando or even expressions the classical looker. I can conclusively see the Montgomery Clift comparison to Laoutides, he is a unusual actor who understands silence and expressions.

This film is full of forbidden fruits because they break the guidelines in film, but that is why the film was liked, applauded and nominated. Audiences like rule breakers.

Black Ruby is an actor's piece and does have dark comedy elements, kind of Kevin Smith and a bit of Woody Allen. The movie does have its share of violence and remarkably strays away from sexual antics. Ruby, is played by the exotically silent Krystal E. Heredia, which her role is really a subplot with the main theme being a brotherhood gone wrong between Jules and Louis.

Joseph Mennella and Zachary Laoutides certainly do conjure Brando and Clift mannerism and expressions, with Laoutides entirely changing physicality in the movie changing his hairstyle and eye color to exceedingly display his range. This is Laoutides' third film coming off his 2017 release of the thriller Arise from Darkness (FYI much better when the film was called 'When My Eye's Go Dark' and not catering to the ghost fanatics) and he once again is the screenplay writer and co-star.

From my observations all of Laoutides' screenplays seem to have an art house quirky subtlety to them and Black Ruby is no different. You will need to figure out what is hidden in between the lines or do playbacks to see what you may have missed.

Also, not happy reading these reviews and some of the commentaries. Why was the film changed to color when parts of it were supposed to be black and white? I felt the same way, 'jeeez this film should be black and white, that would work really well.' To only find out it was!

Directors cut would be nice.

I appreciate the Ave Fenix Pictures movie approach, coined the La Raza method for those of you who are unfamiliar with the film strategy. It's a blend of realism and community coming together to make feature films. They are rule breakers for sure and bend the rules of film school law while probably making filmmakers who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars cringe, as they evolve their film above big studio movies.

Black Ruby has been my favorite film in the La Raza trilogy and hats off to the performances of Jules Mandel and Louis Katz (actors Joseph Mennella and Zachary Laoutides). The Huff Post got it right, these are Brando and Clift performances, the real black Rubies found in Chicago. Noteworthy that I'm using the analogy of ruby in the rough actors, now found and now polished into hopefully bigger projects coming their way.

It's sounds like a drama, because it is, two jazz musicians falling for a forbidden woman who is an escort. Like all films written by Laoutides (whom also resumed his leading man role) there is a complexity to his stories, the narration in particular (narrated by the pimp in the movie) and hidden messages in the art house piece. Also, kudos for the first feature film shot with the iPhone 7. You would never know it though as the film looks vintage and aged playing into the movie's themes (and I mean this as a strong compliment).

Love it or hate it, the film is a modern day Clerks that explore topics people shy away from.

Cheers to the soundtrack for Black Ruby it makes the movie. From researching Ave Fenix Pictures they used Europeans for their last three films, cheers again. The La Raza movement, and I'm still not sure what that is or what it means, nonetheless is doing something very right - Music combined with the images, they're on my top list of independent film companies that do what they want.

The story follows two friends, Jules Mandel a fat and now comfortable womanizer who is inheriting a furniture corporation through his fiancée's father and Louis Katz played by the talented Zachary Laoutides, always transforming on screen even when he doesn't need to be. Both men fall for a Black Latina prostitute and their friendship goes south. The untalented Jules tries to use his father's last name to be a Jazz superstar, but uses the valid talent of Louis to write his songs and further his career, even though Louis is troubled by his past and on medications. Critically in genuineness Laoutides is doing this in the film with his co-stars. Louis Katz is the only character with depth.

In an noteworthy twist Jules uses Louis to fight in backyard street fights, comically the film is narrated by a black hoodlum Quazy who knows the men too well, all being hustlers. Like I said before Laoutides saves the day with his performance and is really the only character I care about in the film, watching an actors-actor is all gratifying with good music in the background.