DCIFF '16: "Driving While Black" Review
If “Crash” had the slight edge of a stoner film it would be “Driving While Black”. The film blends comedy with the serious and timely subject of racial profiling and police brutality flawlessly. What makes “Driving While Black” so enjoyable is it makes its points without proselytizing. At its heart, the movie is about the ups and downs of a flawed individual trying to make ends meet while pursuing his passion. Dealing with the police just happens to be a part of the story woven into his daily life. In many cases we see play out in the news, I think this is what makes police brutality so appalling and the film so relevant.
Set to the sounds of hip-hop and the visual background of LA streets both seen and unseen in films, “Driving While Black” is a guaranteed conversation starter. Writer/star Dominique Purdy is Dimitri, a pizza delivery guy trying to make it as an artist in LA. He’s had his fair share of discriminatory run-ins with the police in his lifetime, which has left a distrustful taste in his mouth as evidenced through flashbacks in the movie. After his car breaks down giving him some time to take a tour of celebrity homes in LA, Dimitri has an opportunity to get a better job as a star maps guide. Each time he makes an attempt, something comes up that keeps him from the interview, and it’s usually the police.
The film also works at portraying a balance of both sides of the coin. Simultaneously throughout the film we are able to see the inner workings of a local police unit comprised of ethnically diverse cops that weave in and out of Dimitri’s storyline. The workplace banter amongst the cops is filled with realism that brings them down to a “next door neighbor” type of vibe that is relatable. From Officer Borty-Lio (Sheila Tejada) trying to get promoted to provide for her family in a squad full of men, to the bad apple Officer McVitie (Peter Cilella) whose past demons have created an over-aggressive monster behind a badge, the film does a good job of developing all characters involved on both sides of the issue.
“Driving While Black” doesn’t sugar coat its character’s decisions either. In one scene, Dimitri is pulled over with a friend who has been driving while high on marijuana, and in another a friend has a gun in the car. It almost makes you question Dimitri’s choice in friends, but these are real life examples that show we all aren’t perfect. It’s a great mixture of ingredients that help to allow the viewer to decide what’s right and wrong in the situation.
Director Paul Sapiano does a great job of pacing the film out and allowing the film to disarm you with its comedy. But when the film gets serious, it’s hair-raising. It’s the situation that black men prepare themselves and their sons for. It’s the type of situation that every move and word counts if you want to go home that night. It’s exactly what makes the film a great display and analysis of the subject matter that will have you talking after the lights come up.
“Driving While Black” takes a comedic approach to a controversy that has become all too common these days. Sometimes comedy is the best medicine. Hopefully, it can serve as another resource to open the door to conversation about this troubling issue in America.
Rating: B+
“Driving While Black” screens at the DC Independent Film Festival Friday March 11, 2016.
DCIFF '15: "Southeast 67" Review
“Southeast 67” is a documentary that speaks to the power of education, altruism, hard work and love. Using a mixture of archival footage and photos, and shooting presently with some of the first I Have A Dream program students, it tackles the age old question of who wins: nature or nurture? The documentary refreshingly dares to answer “life isn’t that black and white.”
In the 1980s, Washington D.C. was known as the “Murder Capital”. Stewart Bainum, a businessman in the area, promised college scholarships to 67 rising seventh graders through the I Have A Dream program. Out of the 67 Dreamers, 72% graduated from high school and 6 went on to get degrees. Writer/director Betsy Cox catches up with some of the Dreamers and their teachers, Phyllis Rumbarger and Steve Bumbaugh, and captures a family reunion on screen amongst the group. It’s clear that the time in the program was a special moment in everyone’s life.
Each personal story presented is diverse. No two Dreamers are the same. The entrancing part of being able to catch up with the Dreamers twenty years later, is that you can formulate an answer to whether the opportunity to get out of a drug and violence filled environment to pursue a better education was enough to put them on the path to success. For some of the Dreamers that appear in the documentary, the opportunity came at a price that we may not instantly think of. Most of them were worried more about their mother being in an abusive relationship, possibly overdosing on drugs in their absence, or where they would get money to live while being away. These haunting thoughts kept some of them paralyzed to move forward, while others were able to take full advantage of the opportunity. Yet, the outcomes twenty years later are equally positive in their own way.
One of the most intriguing things about the documentary is seeing the generational impact of decisions. Sadly, many of the Dreamers were fighting just to make it into the middle class, but the opportunity to have hope for a different future had a lasting impact that has touched their children's lives. The film could have easily slipped into the sensationalism of one white man giving 67 underprivileged black kids a helping hand. Instead, it focuses on love, which sees no color, and permeates each frame from the inside out with undeniable results. “Southeast 67” plays at the DC Independent Film Festival on Friday, February 27th at 7:30PM.
Rating: B
DCIFF '15: "Blood, Sweat, and Beer" Review
It would be easy to dismiss a documentary about beer, or think that it would be best displayed in the background of a fraternity party. While “Blood, Sweat, and Beer” does make you want to grab a cold one, directors Chip Hiden and Alexis Irvin have crafted a film that’s more about the American dream, dedication to a burgeoning trade, and following your passion no matter the cost. Whether you’re a beer connoisseur or not, this documentary speaks to everyone on some level.
The film follows two main stories. In Braddock, PA, a trio of 23 year olds start The Brew Gentlemen Beer Company against all odds. Braddock, a run down former steel town, has suffered from years of abandonment and a population decrease. The young men hope that their brewery will be a beacon of hope for the city’s revitalization. While that lofty goal sounds great, the struggle to see the brewery come together finds them working around the clock with little to no income. It’s do or die for them, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars that investors have put in the company has to be paid back.
In Ocean City, Maryland we’re introduced to Danny Robinson. Robinson is a brewer whose business struggles to get sales on the boardwalk on a regular day, but is now in a nasty trademark lawsuit battle. The filmmakers track his story over the course of a year, from the storefront opening to his final court date. Robinson’s underdog story is perhaps the emotional core of the film as he continues to try and run his business with the mammoth suit hovering over him. Yet his resolve to keep pressing forward is what the American workforce is built on.
Towards the end, the film struggles to stay on track. It dips into the realm of women in the craft brewing industry. While it’s a worthy topic to explore, it comes out of no where and is gone just as quickly as it appears. While it certainly doesn’t derail the film, it would have been great to learn more and have it weaved throughout the film or not touched at all.
Coming off of their debut documentary, “The Dream Share Project”, Hiden and Irvin have managed to infuse their passion for people following their dreams with their love for craft beers in their latest project. Ultimately, “Blood, Sweat, and Beer” is an informative documentary about craft brewing through the lens of brewers trying to earn a living. “Blood, Sweat, and Beer” plays at the DC Independent Film Festival March 1st at 2:40PM.
Rating: B-