I have watched this DVD several times, and that ususally means it is one of my favorites, a five star performance. In this case, however, because of the director's inability to create cohesion between his two visions of how to tell this story (these stories) I give the film only four stars.First of all, there are the films many strengths: the hip-hop world has never been better and more honestly and more non-judgmentally portrayed; Mike Tyson, Downey JR., Houston, Phillips, and Schiffer give great performances; Much is learned about the connection between affluent white kids and hip-hop culture. Deep stuff.The big problem with the movie is that it would have worked as a documentary style film, or it would have worked as a plotted detective story. When these two ideas come together, however, the gritty reality of the hip-hop world does not mesh with the necessarily artificial plot contrivances of the detective story (even though it is a pretty good detective story). Black & White
My God! My eyes are open! I finally see through the lies of the media! Thank you, Toback! Now I know that all black culture is little more than rap, drugs, murder and basketball! How unenlightened I've been! I now see that the white upperclass of America really is falling prey to the hiphop culture of the street! What? This isn't true? REALLY? Well, you wouldn't know from Black and White, a by-the-numbers "tell-it-like-it-is" of the true state of the American way of life. Every stereotype of Griffith's Birth of a Nation is present, albeit from a differing angle. I guess this is why so much indie culture comes out of the midwest (the whitest of whitebread); they can say these things in their craft, and everyone here is duped by the result. I grew up in the South, where people of color actually live in large numbers. Not only did I KNOW a black guy, not only did I have black friends, but actually, I lived in (gasp!) a black neighborhood! I sat in classrooms which were...predominantly black! However, after coming to the midwest and teaching four years in the university here, I have had one, ONE black student. This can be the only reason that Black and White is actually highly regarded. This movie is Tripe (with a capitol T). Oh and one more thing: white critics of America, stop falling for this "commentary" on racial relations in America. Maybe then, we can get something with a LITTLE realism!
I live in New York City and I could relate to this film. It was not a perfect movie but I think anyone who has some real experience in the New York area, especially in the hip-hop scene might find it interesting, but not necessarily totally accurate. I think Toback is trying to explore stereotypes though. I do not think that he is actually endorsing them here, but, instead, satirizing them - the drug dealer, the sports athlete, the macho male black sex fiend and the rapper. He has some moderate understanding of the peculiar way that blacks and whites are relating to each other in the new era, at least in New York. There are some really telling scenes when Mike Tyson castigates Brooke Shield's camera saying something like : "Wondering what the animal will do next?". I think Toback is trying to explore America's race-obsession but in a very subtle understated way. Hence, the looming camera of Brook Shields (i.e."the media") and the ridiculous questions she asks. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, much of the movie seems so contrived and over-acted. But I am glad he at least tried to explore this topic. I think it will definently appeal more, to strong Wu-tang fans, New Yorkers and younger folks though. He gets an A for effort; C for execution.
"Black and White," as the title implies, is an ambitious attempt to explore race relations in contemporary urban America, without resorting to the shibboleths, sugar-coated platitudes and pat answers one generally finds in more mainstream films on the subject. Setting his tale in New York City and employing an intriguing mix of established and first time actors, many of them playing themselves on screen, writer/director James Toback explores the ways in which both sides of the black/white equation are essentially attempting to achieve the same basic goal: to gain acceptance in the other side's territory for reasons of either financial gain or personal validation. Here we have, for example, a group of white, upper middle class high school students, disillusioned by the empty materialism of their family and home lives, so drawn to the contemporary trendiness of the black hip-hop culture that they end up emulating and adopting its fashions, its terminology and its angry, anti-establishment attitudes. Yet, acceptance is not a guarantee in any area of life and what these youngsters do not realize is that they are perceived by the blacks as little more than pathetic hangers-on, cultural nomads to be exploited for their willingness to perform sexual favors or rituals of bloodletting when it is most convenient to the users. Conversely, the blacks find themselves doing virtually the same thing, in this case, cowtowing to the white record industry executives who in turn exploit them for success and profit. Here we have gangster rappers attempting to go "straight" in order to achieve acceptability in the high-class world of the corporate entertainment elite.Toback explores this often confusing but always fascinating world by laying out its topography in a non-linear fashion. The "story" consists of interlocking and overlapping characters culled from a wide range of social strata. Like a fine jigsaw puzzle, the film reveals a full panoramic picture as the assorted pieces fall nicely into place. The most morally complex plot strand involves a shady undercover cop (Ben Stiller), his ethically ambiguous ex-girlfriend and her new black, basketball star boyfriend. The first two characters in particular so thoroughly defy conventional pigeonholing in terms of moral consistency and clarity of motive that they keep the audience off balance and questioning throughout. In fact, it is this very refusal to simplify the moral (or perhaps amoral) complexities of the world he is showing us that makes Toback's document such a fascinating one to watch.One could quibble with a few editorial choices, of course. The use of Brooks Shields and Robert Downey Jr. as a couple of bizarre documentary filmmakers seems a bit forced as a way to get the "outside world" into the proceedings. Some of the acting seems a bit amateurish, to say the least, and the dialogue occasionally sounds stilted and poorly rehearsed. And the use of Mike Tyson, appearing as himself, is positively surreal in its effect as we see him beating up a man who has made a sexual advance on him and advising a buddy to commit murder as an act of retaliation. How Toback got Tyson to agree to such an unflattering and downright damning portrayal of himself is truly beyond imagining.Despite its few weaknesses, "Black and White" provides a searing look into the world of racial relations in this country. For its honesty, bravery and refusal to compromise, this is a film well worth studying and applauding. - Wu Tang - Ben Stiller - Brooke Shields - Class'
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