Regina King

  • This Christmas (2007)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, February 2022) Considering the all-Christmas-movies-all-month-long nature of the BET channel in December, it’s worth asking why this Christmas would find a spot on its January schedule. Aren’t we satiated until at least mid-November after such an overdose of Christmas cheer? The BET channel, after all, believes in quantity more than distinction in scheduling its holiday films: anything goes as long as Christmas is somewhere in there. Part of the suitability of this later scheduling can be found in This Christmas’ pedigree: Compared to the usual “BET original” Christmas movies, This Christmas has a budget at least a magnitude larger, with competent cinematography, decent technical credentials, a successful theatrical release and a roster of well-known actors. No, Loretta Devine doesn’t count—she’s practically a BET original mascot at this point. But Delroy Lindo, Idris Elba and Regina King are something else, and so this Christmas aims to be a well-crafted Christmas film with theatrical aspirations, at least one or two levels of quality higher than the channel’s original films. The difference is mostly in execution: the cinematography is fine, the actors are good and the film feels lived-in. The plot, unsurprisingly, isn’t that much better: yet another story of a fractious family finding peace at Christmas. Not that it matters all that much: Christmas movies, more than perhaps any other subgenre, rely heavily on comfort and reassurance that everything is going to be all right in time for the end of the big holiday get-together. Familiarity and predictability are key. No matter the budget or the pedigree.

  • One Night in Miami… (2020)

    One Night in Miami… (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2021) Fan-fiction goes respectable in actress-turned-director Regina King’s One Night in Miami, a film built on the idea of what could have happened when real-life friends Malcom X, Cassius Clay, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke — all legends in their own fields — spent an evening together. The bare bones of the story are factual: they did spend an evening together in a Miami hotel room, and they were all at their own crossroads at the time. (Two of them would be dead by the following year.)  The rest is fictionalization, albeit good and believable drama as the four men, recognizing their growing personal power and influence, discuss what black men could do with what they had at their disposal. Reflecting real-life, the most compelling member of the cast has to be Eli Goree as Cassius Clay, with Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X not far behind. All four main actors (with the cast being rounded off by Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown and Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke) do well in a dramatically challenging film, with the tight space/time unity allowing for debates reflecting the tensions of the Civil Rights movement. As a directing debut for King, it’s a success — the film walks a fine line between fact, drama and discussing big ideas. While nighttime hotel setting ensures that the film’s palette remains monotonous, that same theatrical feeling creates a fertile dramatic environment for the characters to exchange their views on big topics. One Night in Miami should be particularly fascinating for anyone interested in those figures or the era in which it’s set, but there’s a lot to admire in the rest of what the film has to offer as well.

  • How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)

    How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, May 2020) Anyone who thinks that How Stella Got Her Groove Back is a one-quadrant romantic comedy solely destined to older black women is missing one thing—late-1990s Angela Basset was the complete package for all other three quadrants—simply a joy to watch given her versatility, precision in her acting choices, and devastating gorgeousness. The film knows it and wastes no effort in reinforcing it—she sports at least half a dozen hairstyles through the film and looks amazing in all of them. The story is also designed to let her go from one peak to another—she hits all of the right notes as the narrative takes her all the way from a tight-haired power broker to a lovelorn single mother to a grieving friend to a woman in limbo to, finally, affirming her own desires in their complexity. Refreshingly, the twenty-year-gap between the protagonist and her younger lover (a breakthrough role for Taye Diggs) is honestly dealt with. While there are no real surprises here (she does get her groove back: relief!), it’s a likable film even when it’s balanced on a bad idea. Add Whoopi Goldberg and Regina King and I’m disappointed I watched the film on a grainy standard-resolution channel. Obviously, your mileage may depend based on how you feel about Basset.