Is That Black Enough for You?!?

This documentary starts out interesting with lots of historic facts about the earliest black movies that were made, with lots of interesting interviews by big Hollywood names like Samuel L Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Harry Bellafonte and Sidney Poitier.

The bad: but after an hour this documentary veers of into all sorts of directions, becoming disjointed and long in the tooth.

It is as if this director simply had no control over his urge to namedrop as many film classics as possible and then start analysing what was wrong with them.

Recommended watch for the first hour, but I fear not many will stay focussed till the very end, because this documentary unfortunately peters out after the first hour.

From Bill 'Bogangles' Robinson to Louis Gossett Jr. To Marlene Warfield to Denzel Washington (!), there are quite a number of major artists and performances missing. Yaphet Kotto is mentioned once, but his best performances ('Bone,' 'Report to the Commissioner,' 'Blue Collar') are not seen. Pearl Bailey is never mentioned and Redd Foxx is seen for 2 seconds. You would likely never know that Jim Brown and Fred Williamson were, in the 1970's, supreme sex symbol icons as well as icons of masculinity. Cicely Tyson's storied career is distilled to her Oscar nod for 'Sounder' and an appearance in one other film. Spike Lee's films (even his early work) gets glossed over. So, yes, I have some problems with it. However, I must admit that it is an admirable and sophisticated try. Should've been 3 hours long and they should've allowed the film clips to breath a bit more. A nice primer to whet the appetite of the film student. The initiated will find a number of cinematic holes and missed opportunities.

A brilliant encyclopedic survey of black cinema. The interviews are revealing and entertaining. There is a lot that is covered and it is organized well. I will be referring to this documentary repeatedly to watch films I haven't seen and never heard of. This film coupled with the black horror film documentary "Horror Noir" will feed the curious mind, enthralled by black cinema and its progression.

One of the more unexpected aspects is it's inclusion of experimental films, from animation to split screen. There is minimal focus on this but it does highlight ambitious storytelling and filmmakers responses to a restrictive system.

As "Is That Black Enough For You?!?" (2022 release; 135 min) opens, the voiceover (from director Elvis Mitchell) observes how his grandma was influenced by the movies she saw, and how it led to the golden era of black film making 1968 to 1978. Talking heads like Lawrence Fishburne, Harry Belafonte and Whoopi Goldberg offer their perspectives, and a wistful Mitchell asks "Why did these pictures stopped getting made?" At this point we are 10 min into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the directing debut of longtime writer, producer and film critic (including at one point for the New York Times) Eric Mitchell. Here he fondly looks back to the golden years of black film making, which he identifies as 1968 to 1978. And "film making" is to be understood in a broad sense: not just actors, but also producers and directors and anyone else involved directly and indirectly. Everyone knows of the phenom that was "Shaft" but as Mitchell demonstrates, there were so many other noteworthy black films in that era, many of which were made outside of the Hollywood studio system and hence never seen by most of us, including many of the so-called blaxploitation movies ("blaxploitation is the commoditization of blackness", observes one of the talking heads). The works of Gordon Banks and Melvin Van Peebles get extensive attention, and along the way we get dozens and dozens of movie clips, one better/more intriguing than the other. It leads one (or at least me) to want to see these movies. It was amazing for me how quickly these 2 hrs. And 15 min came and went, and a genuine pleasure to watch this from start to finish. Last but not least, in the movie's opening credits, the title is showing as "Is That Black Enough For You?!? How One Decade Forever Changed the Movies (And Me)".

"Is That Black Enough For You?!?" premiered in early October at the new York Film Festival to immediate critical acclaim, and it is currently rated 100% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and for good reason. If you have any interest in a slice of movie history which most of us know very little about, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

The movie 'Is That Black Enough for You?!?' is a provocative documentary that examines the history of black representation in American cinema. The documentary is narrated, directed, and written by Elvis Mitchell and it sheds light on the groundbreaking blaxploitation movies of the 70s. Numerous black actors, directors, and writers have shared their experiences, challenges, and struggles in the white-dominated world of Hollywood.

The documentary delves deep enough to uncover marginalized black films intended for black audiences that have gone unnoticed by the media and the general public.

The movie's editing becomes unsteady when it jumps back and forth in time, with testimonials that elongate the script. The script also places a heavy emphasis on black films prior to 2000, leaving the film feeling incomplete or as if it is anticipating a sequel.