- Actors: Tika Sumpter, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Parker Sawyers
- Director: Richard Tanne
- Disc Format: NTSC, Widescreen
- Language: English
- Region: Region A/1
- Rated: PG-13
- Studio: Lionsgate
- Release Date: December 13, 2016
- Run Time: 84 minutes
In many ways, Southside with You is the opposite of
Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise,
despite sharing many similarities in narrative structure. And the differences
have very little to do with race, nor is this the first of these single-date
films to address the issues of black Americans. The first film of Moonlight director Barry Jenkins was Medicine for Melancholy, which follows a
pair navigating San Francisco
together the day after having a one-night-stand. But whereas Before Sunrise and Medicine for Melancholy are films about two characters crossing
paths as they head in different directions, Southside
with You follows two characters that often resist a future together despite
our knowledge of their inevitable union.
Southside with You also benefits from
the audience’s prior knowledge about the characters, adding some layers of
nuance to each thing they do or say. The film takes place on a summer day in
1989, but it never loses sight of where these characters will eventually end
up. At times this feels a bit on-the-nose. According to director Richard Tanne,
most of the events of the date actually occurred, but that doesn’t make their
choice to see Spike Lee’s Do the Right
Thing on their date feel any less contrived, especially when the pair runs
into their white boss at the theater and have a discussion about the widely
debated ending of the film.
In the summer of
1989 Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers) is working as a law associate between
semesters of school, where he meets promising attorney Michelle Robinson (Tika
Sumpter). We don’t get to see this meet cute, as the film begins with their
first date rather than their first encounter. And there is a debate as to
whether or not it is actually a date. While Barack makes to secret of his
romantic intentions, Michelle insists that they are merely colleagues attending
a town meeting together, and continues to resist his advances for a majority of
the film.
Because Barack
picks her up long before the meeting, these two have plenty of time to wander
around Chicago’s
South Side. They visit an art museum, get food together, and eventually end up
at a movie, but this is all just background variation setting up the real star
of the film, which is the screenplay. This could just as easily be put on as a
stage play, because the interactions between the characters are far more
significant than the setting or the actions they are carrying out during their
discussions. Without the thoughtful screenwriting done by Tanne, balancing
between the charm of the romantic story and the relevance of its discussion of
race relations in America,
Southside with Me may have been a
bore.
Along with the
excellent writing, Southside with Me
works thanks to the careful casting. While Sawyers may do a slightly better job
at embodying the iconic speech patterns and mannerisms of our current president
(I’m clinging to that until the day he leaves office), Sumpter embraces the
role as her own, even if there may have been other actresses that better
resemble the First Lady. But more importantly, these two have chemistry
together. Sometimes their passions conflict, leading to moments of disagreement
that are necessary in a film where the ending is certain, but then there are
the brief moments of romance planted as a foreshadow of the future to come. Southside with Me may not have much to
say about the hope of American politics, and it has few answers about the
future of race relations, but it does give this reviewer hope for the future of
wholesome romance narratives in film.
Special features
on the Blu-ray disc include a commentary track with director/writer Richard
Tanne, along with original artwork and animations created in promotion of the
film.
*** The Blu-ray release is supposed to come with a
Digital HD copy, though it is currently not available through Ultraviolet, as
advertised. This problem may be resolved soon, but as of 12/16, this is what I
know: The Blu-ray includes the usual code for adding to your digital library,
but the code doesn’t work since they have yet to add the film into their
system. I contacted Ultraviolet to let them know that this title was not
available and the code entered brings up an error as a result. I didn’t let
Ultraviolet know that I am a critic who has been sent the release by the studio
itself for review purposes, because I wanted to see how they would treat the
average consumer.
It turns out they treat them like
common thieves. When I politely informed them of the missing films (several of
this past week’s other releases are suspiciously missing, including End of a Gun, “Harley and the
Davidsons,” and Morgan), they asked
me to send them a receipt of purchase, proving I had actually bought the films.
What’s even more frustrating than the implication of this request is the fact
that it does nothing to address the real problem. Code or no code, receipt or
no receipt, it does nothing to change the fact that the films are not even
entered into the Ultraviolet system to begin with. I don’t know if the studios
using this system are aware of the problems, but consumers should know what
they are paying for, and as of 12/16 it is not a digital copy.
Entertainment Value:
8/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 8.5/10
Historical
Significance: 7/10
Special Features: 6.5/10
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