Black or White Review

Black or White was pretty good. Kevin Costner (Elliot Anderson) did an excellent job from the beginning. His character had me crying within five minutes of the movie, and this despite the fact that his character rarely shed a tear. Rather he drowned his sorrow in glasses, or should I say bottles, of Macallan. And in spite of his drunken ways, it is clear he cares deeply for his granddaughter, Eloise.

Jillian Estell (Eloise Anderson) did a wonderful job portraying all of the various layers of her character. Her mother died during childbirth. Her grandmother, the woman who cared for her, has passed away. She knows of her father, and longs for a relationship with him, but he isn't around (crack addict). A grandfather with a drinking habit who is now left to care for her on his own. And finally a whole other family on the other side of town. An African-American family. A family that connects her to the father she longs to know. She battles wanting to be with her father, really meaning she just wants him to be in her life, and wanting to stay in the place she knows, with her grandfather.

Octavia Spencer (Rowena Jeffers) played a mother who mothers EVERYONE! She has several family members living with her and now wants her granddaughter to live with her too. She seems to be in denial about how badly off her son, Eloise's father, is. She does make a valid point about why Eloise needs her father to fight for her even if he is a crackhead, so she grows up knowing she's worth something. And this point is further validated for Eloise, because indeed she does yearn for affirmation that her father cares about her. You see this displayed throughout the film. Octavia and Kevin play well off of each other, giving the film some comedic breaks throughout the drama.

Speaking of comedic breaks, Mpho Koaho (Duvan Araga) provided great comedic breaks as Elliot and Eloise's tutor, and Elliot's personal chauffeur. I'll just say, "I wrote a paper on it." If you go see the film, you'll get that. LOL.

Anthony Mackie (Jeremiah Jeffers) played Rowena's baby brother. A big shot attorney who represents her in court. He thinks very little of his nephew, Eloise's father, and insists on making the custody battle about race despite Rowena's hesitation to do so. I'm an Anthony Mackie fan, but I feel in this role he overacted a bit. I suspect it might have been a director issue, as I could see why the lines were blurred due to the type of character he was playing. His character was supposed to reflect someone who made it to the top, accentuate that, I think he may have been directed to the point of overacting. It was too much. For one thing, it didn't seem like he and Rowena came from the same family. Secondly, sometimes it just wasn't believable. Hard to explain, but you'll see what I mean if you watch it.

Andre Holland (Reggie Davis), played Eloise's crack-addict father. Interesting story. Something happened to his father when he was younger. He started messing with Eloise's mother at the age of 23, when she was only 17. They hid her pregnancy from her family, part of the reason she dies during childbirth. We later learn he's physically attacked Elliot and stolen from him. He's been out of Eloise's life for three years. And he doesn't even know how to spell her name!

There was some interesting race commentary. When asked by a friend if he really wanted to raise a Black girl, Eliot's first response is she isn't black....followed by...she's half Black and half White...followed by...and why does that matter. So yes, ultimately, he gave the right response, but what about the initial response. Are you NOT Black if you're only half Black? I guess the actual question is, do people really think that? Or more specifically do White people think that? Do they think that about their biracial grandchildren? How does that compare to the one drop rule? I'm sure there are various answers, theories, and opinions to these questions. But the film was clearly trying to spark a conversation, or at least a thought, through this conversation between Elliot and his friend.

And yes, at some point in the film, Elliot uses the word nigger. He calls Reggie a street nigger, and admits this in court. But...actually he was saying don't behave like a street nigger, because you aren't. And that doesn't excuse it, right? The fact that Reggie let his daughter down by not showing up to dinner the night before doesn't excuse it. The concern would be that Elliot even thinks of using the word nigger when he is fighting to raise a Black (or to him, only half Black) granddaughter. However, in court, it comes out that the thought wasn't simply because Reggie was Black, rather it was because Elliot found texts from Reggie to his daughter where Reggie referred to himself as a street nigger (repeatedly). So what was bubbling up was the texts between the man who statutorily raped his daughter, leading to her death in childbirth, and the man who is hurting his granddaughter by continually letting her down. It was the text message, not his skin color, that brought the phrase "street nigger" to his head. As he said, he doesn't dislike Reggie because he's black, he dislikes Reggie because of what he's done. But...still...if you're going to be raising a Black granddaughter, shouldn't you have the filter to not use the word nigger?

But alas, as we all probably guessed, Elliot didn't lose his granddaughter, and his granddaughter spends more time with her Black family. As it should be. Perfect, expected ending.

Overall, it was a good movie. Nothing groundbreaking or truly thought-provoking. It's basically the story of a custody battle between a grandfather who has already lost his daughter and wife and doesn't want to lose his granddaughter, and a grandmother who wants the best for all of her kin, especially her granddaughter. Both desires are valid and from good places, and the way it ended was fair.

Good drama with a good amount of comedy.