Black or White (2015)

Black or White is the story of a grandfather who is suddenly left to care for his beloved granddaughter. When her paternal grandmother seeks custody with the help of her brother, the little girl is torn between two families who love her deeply. With the best intentions at heart, both families fight for what they feel is right and are soon forced to confront their true feelings about race, forgiveness, and understanding. 

(Summary from Rottentomatoes.com)

“They’re obviously going to give the girl to the white man”

“Why do you say that, mom?”

“Because that’s what these movies always end up doing”

I briefly argued with my mother about the comment she made after we watched the trailer of Black or White. Despite its title, I did not think the movie would focus solely on which adult was better fit to raise a child based on the color of their skin.

Because of the dispute, my mind grew curious about the outcome of the movie. Thus, a day after Black or White premiered; my mother and I witnessed the story and outcome to this critically acclaimed movie in theaters.

The film started off melancholy, presenting the tragedy that would provoke the main conflict of the story. It was indeed somber, but afterwards, the exposition continued having slow moments that bored me in my seat.

For any movie, the acting should convey enough conviction to grab audience’s attention. Even a scene as simple as talking at a dining table can be interesting if the actors present passion in what they are saying.  The exposition of Black or White did not capture my full attention; the first act was lackluster. The performers sounded like they were reading from a script rather than invested in what they were saying. The aloofness on screen made me think to myself, “Oh well, let’s just get this over with. The tickets were already bought”

I also took notice of the sloppy transition. Certain scenes were unessential to the plot. For example, there was one part where the grandfather (Kevin Costner) hires a math tutor (Mpho Koaho) for the little girl. As much as I enjoyed the tutor and his delightful words of wisdom and self-promotion, all he brought to the script was comic relief. If he were never in the picture, the story would still go on, yet maybe not as funny, (he was the main character to make me laugh).

The characters as a whole were not very relatable. Whenever the child actor (Jillian Estell) came on screen, I felt like there was an emptiness to her. She was just a typical nice kid but lacked complexity. Her interests, hobbies, likes, dislikes, those are things the script could have added in there once in a while so the audience would know more about her instead of being the common nice adolescent. 

As for the adults, sure they had range in their personalities, but concerning the black side of the child’s family, specifically the grandmother (Octavia Spencer) the movie still displays the stereotypical ghetto attitude within them. It comes off as almost cartoony. It implies to its audience the idea that all black people are loud and disruptive, which is not true. Certainly many African Americans behave maturely, so the presentation of them frequently acting in a insolent manner shines a bad light.

My last comment is that specific sections of the movie were very improbable. Two scenes that I think about when I mention this is the cartoons and pool (at night) scenes.

The first one was when the grandfather asks the child to turn off her cartoons so she can finish her homework, which leads to hostility between the pair, which seemed unlikely. The man and his granddaughter shared a loving relationship throughout the movie until then, and even after the scuffle, they pretty much returned to their precious bond. Therefore, the grandfather’s order about turning off the cartoons should not have brought on such anger. That part felt rushed and desperate to cause some kind of rift between the two, thus being pointless and perplexing.

The pool scene was even more unconvincing. There’s a talk between the grandfather and the child’s paternal father (Andre Holland) that quickly turns into a dangerous predicament. The problem I had with this scenario was that the father is portrayed as a drug addict, who would do anything in his power to get what he wants and take it by force. However, at some point during this scene, the guy is suddenly emotional and meek over something trivial. If this was the real world, the drug addict would’ve been threatening and followed through with his plan of doing whatever he liked. Instead, he chickens out of it and softens up which unfortunately, is not what normally happens in real life.

To conclude, as much complaints I expressed about this movie, it did have its share of good moments. Over the course of the film, the actors sounded more invested in their words and the two sides of the family were ultimately not  judged by the color of their skin.

So in the end, I won the argument, but when my mother and I drove home, it felt like we both lost. Even worse, we felt cheated out of a good movie. The plot did have potential to show a great story, yet it wasn’t executed the best way.  

This is more of a movie best suited to watch once and never again; if you even consider watching it at all after reading this critic.

My score on Black or White? I’d say a two and a half out of five stars.