lexus97

Perry's leap forward isn't just 'For Colored Girls'

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Genre: Drama

Running Time: 120 min

MPAA rating: R (for some disturbing violence including a rape, sexual content and language)

Release Date: Nov 5, 2010

Tags: There are no tags. By Lawrence Toppman

The Charlotte Observer

“For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf” hit Broadway audiences like a hammer blow 34 years ago.

Playgoers were on their feet physically at the end but on their knees emotionally. Ntozake Shange’s “choreopoem,” a series of monologues that put us inside the minds of black women, left many people (including this 22-year-old white man) feeling we’d had our first full look at characters who were not only disenfranchised but nearly invisible – a poignant thought in the year of America’s bicentennial celebration.

Tyler Perry was 7 at the time, but the play must have made a powerful impression later. The writer-director waited until he had the clout, budget and prestige to attract a top-flight cast, then turned “Colored Girls” into a movie with a little less darkness but plenty of heart and guts.

The film is an odd hybrid structurally: Perry pays tribute to the original poetry by inserting it into otherwise realistic dialogue. So Phylicia Rashad is counseling a loose woman in conventional fashion when she breaks into a long, flowery speech about lilies and African queens.

That suited me, as I could listen to Phylicia Rashad read the list of possible side effects of an antidepressant capsule. But if you can’t get comfortably inside this structure, which has an exotic and melodramatic quality, the movie will make you fidget.

It has two undeniable virtues, however: Perry’s bolder attitude as a writer and uniformly good work by his cast.

Perry deals for the first time with many problems that go unsolved by man or God. (Except for a religious fanatic who doesn’t seem to get much joy from her faith, played by Whoopi Goldberg, God is never mentioned.)

A sympathetic character becomes HIV-positive. Little children suffer without reprieve. A back-alley abortionist, cheerful and casual, sticks her tools into a scared high school graduate. The main hope offered is that broken people can hold each other up and find strength together.

Except for an apartment manager with loads of common sense (Rashad) and a social worker with more conscience than she needs (Kerry Washington), all the characters surf on waves of pain.

A dance teacher (Anika Noni Rose), an office worker (Kimberly Elise) and the editor of a fashion magazine (Janet Jackson) all suffer at the hands of callous or brutal men. A sluttish bartender (Thandie Newton), crippled by a sexually abusive grandfather and an unhelpful mom, treats men cruelly before they can do the same to her. Even the cheerful manager of a free health clinic lets the same philanderer into her bed and heart over and over. (She’s played by Loretta Devine, who steals the show with the poem “Somebody Almost Ran Off With My Stuff.”)

We have made progress since 1976, and Perry knows that. (For one thing, he would never have directed an expensive studio picture back then.)

The fact that he can show black women running mass-market magazines and health clinics reminds us how far we’ve come. But there are still plenty of women of all colors suffering from abuse of all kinds, some shouting to make themselves heard and some whispering in fear. We still need to listen

where is everyone

Don't act like you don't know the truth..

*cuss deep down in your heart u dooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooo chile things r gonna get easier

He sent out a massive email today on facebook

For Colored Girls

Nov 4th, 2010

First off, I want to say thanks to all of you who sent me thousands of encouraging emails and notes after THE OPRAH SHOW aired a few weeks ago. You will never know how much it meant to me to have that kind of support from all of you. Just know, I thank you and appreciate you so much.

Starting today, I’m going away for a while for some long needed and overdue rest. I have realized in these 41 years that if I don’t stop and take care of myself no one else will, so I’m doing just that. Thinking of myself first has never come easy, but it’s about time that I do for a while. Just know that I’m fine. I just need some revival time.

Before I go, I just wanted to send this email reminding you that FOR COLORED GIRLS opens tomorrow, Friday, November 5th. I sure hope you intend to get out and see it this weekend. It is a fascinating film that I know you’re going to love. I think I’m going to try and sneak in a few theaters to hear some live reactions. And know for sure that I’ll be near my message board and Facebook page to see what you thought.

Also, Essence did a two-cover collector’s item for their December issue. Never before have this many women of color been in a film, and that alone is worth celebrating. I’m so proud of them! Wait until you see the work they put down...WOW! Thanks Essence. It’s so great when we celebrate our own. Also, the soundtrack is out and I must say I love it. I love good music.

And by the way, you don’t have to be a colored girl to enjoy this film. It is for everyone.

Talk soon.

Be blessed,

Tyler Perry

lawd joe ur title for this thread was doing way to much

lawd not the madge threads already

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Mj43zXUGs

I always skip this song but I have been listening to this nonstop for the past hour I love this song

All for You was one of my least favorite album but it actually good

see what u have been missing. truth is deep especially if u r going thru what she is singing about

4 pages in and we don't offiicially start till monday

:lmao: STOP IT

I vote no!!!

U ALL R MEAN

no i save that for her official thread

COOL

See what I mean Lexus

:lmao: DANG SORRY!

These bastards won't vote for me (Probably won't help that I called them bastards though )

No, I can't be here before 10AM.

Oh well, I'll lurk and read as usual. :lol:

SORRY

THANKS

AND DONT B ALL UP IN THIS THREAD WITH RIRI MESS

Sure, I'll join. :excited:

OK U NEED 5 VOTES.

FIRST I NEED TO ASK U SOME ?'S

CAN U GET HERE BEFORE 10AM EVERYYDAY!

:lol:

I just had to take the opportunity to come for Hotboy.

I haven't called him the whore of the forum in a long time, so it was long overdue.

:lmao: :lmao:

U WANNA JOIN? IU WANT US TO VOTE ON U

let em know first lady

welcome to our club malone

I think the next person that wants to join should need atleast 5 votes and we will b saying no to some that wanna join

OK I GOOD WITH 5

Just be happy that an ICON has decided to make an appearance in your thread and STFU!

YES KEEP BUMPING UP OUR THREAD

that's enough votes I don't think blatin or game would protest

YEAH I AGREE. So any newbie that wants to get in the thread will need four votes from the members AND OVER 2K POSTS

SO LETS WELCOME IN D Y2K AND U WILL HAVE A PROBATION PERIOD TRY US AND SEE

I vote yes for DJ..Since we're sleeping together and he's a Rihallah stan..

about time ok so that's boi, me u and nuk...IS THAT ENOUGH?

Us menses have better thangs to do..let the woman do the bumping..

will u vote damn it

I'll say yes too. Just this time. For the next person who begs for memebership into our sassy sorority I'll be much more harsh.

cool how many votes does he need what u say mr prez

Boiiiii

can u vote please

That's a woman's job..

:lmao: i see we are back at it! hotazz.well since i am one of the few here i will see what i can do

umm I had over 2k post on the old forum

ok we will take a vote on you sir.

*clears throat* All those in favor of allowing y2k in holla back

i say yes!

agreed

IS 2K TOO LOW??? JUST ASKING