''Blackbird'' is a 2014

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by Patrik-Ian Polk and starring Mo'Nique and

Isaiah Washington Isaiah Washington IV is an American actor and media personality. Following a series of film appearances, he came to prominence for portraying Dr. Preston Burke in the first three seasons of the series ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2007. Wash ...

. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Larry Duplechan and was released theatrically on April 24, 2015.

Premise

A gay teenager in high school in a small Baptist town in Mississippi struggles with his religion and his sexuality. To make matters worse, his younger sister has been missing for years and it is tearing his family apart.

Cast

* Julian Walker as Randy Rousseau * Mo'Nique as Claire Rousseau *

as Lance Rousseau * Kevin Allesee as Marshall MacNeil * Terrell Tilford as Pastor Crandall *

D. Woods Wanita Denise Woodgett (born July 6, 1985), better known as by her nickname D. Woods, is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Woods is the founder and CEO of Woodgrane Entertainment, but best known for her efforts on MTV's "Making The Band 3 ...

as Leslie Crandall *

Gary LeRoi Gray Gary LeRoi Gray (born February 12, 1987) is an American actor, who has appeared in movies, television and animation. Career He is best known for his childhood role as Nelson Tibideaux, the son of Sondra Huxtable Tibideaux and Elvin Tibideaux o ...

as Efrem * Torrey Laamar as Todd Waterson * Nikki Jane as Crystal

Background

Polk initially tried to get the film made several years earlier, with Jussie Smollett cast as the young lead, however financing fell through. When the funding came through years later, he was forced to re-cast because of Smollett's busy schedule on ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'', and struggled to find a black male actor who would portray a gay love story on screen. However, he later met Julian Walker, who is openly gay, and chose to cast him despite his lack of acting experience. Polk discussed, in an interview with

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ke ...

, the need for more stories featuring gay men who aren't

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

Through my years of filmmaking, we have seen the gay coming-of-age story from every possible white male point of view ... We’ve seen it over, and over, and over.

Release

The film had a successful run on the film festival circuit, winning awards at several LGBT-oriented festivals including Outflix Memphis,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

’s Out On Film Festival, and the Crossroads Film Festival in Polk’s native Mississippi. The film was the closing night gala screening for Los Angeles’

Pan African Film Festival Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation in Los Angeles, California, that states its goal is to promote "cultural understanding among peoples of African descent" through exhibiting art and film. It hosts a film festival and an ar ...

(PAFF), where it won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature Film.

Reception

''Blackbird'' received mixed to negative reviews from critics. , 40% of the ten reviews compiled on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

are positive, with an average rating of 4.6/10. ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' called it "too all over the map to take seriously". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said that the film has an "impressive, palpable conviction", although it ultimately "suffers from soapy excesses and narrative disjunctures". ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yo ...

'' wrote: "''Blackbird'' is, like its main character, too naïve to understand or, at least, to deploy the reparative powers of camp".

References

External links

* {{Patrik-Ian Polk 2014 films African-American drama films African-American LGBT-related films American LGBT-related films American independent films Films directed by Patrik-Ian Polk Gay-related films Films about interracial romance 2014 LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films 2014 drama films 2014 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films