A new landmark in black cinema and nearly a masterpiece if not for the ending, which narratively made sense, but still didn’t like it. I needed my happy ending 🥹 it’s a really difficult to watch depiction of the impacts of domestic violence and generational trauma. Seeing so many people’s lives ruined by one callous and abusive man pissed me the hell off and felt all too real as someone who knows people who have been through domestic violence. Just like in those situations, I have no idea how these women fell for this guy, BUT it happens all too often.
I like how the dialogue still feels like a play and Kara Young and Mallori Jackson were great! The twins are one of the most interesting and creative sibling dynamics I’ve seen in a recent film. They’re up there with the twins from Sinners and I thought it was cool how narratively they represent the propensity for violence and anger of their father(Racine) and their mother’s naïveté(Anaia)
The way you could see Racine slowly going down the same path her father was on that caused all of this and you could see Anaia falling for so much stupid stuff.. they truly made a perfect team so the ending breaks my heart and soured me on the film a bit, but it’s an amazing watch for the most part. It’s also one of them films that’s definitely made for the culture, so many little tidbits that Aleshea Harris put in this that made me smile.
Other than the ending, I was also put off by the constant piss stuff that added nothing to the film lmao. I guess they wanted to show how intimate the twins were, but it just felt weird to me. Relatively minor thing, great film overall.
