Talk To Me

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

Release Date: July 20th, 2007 (limited)

Starring: Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Martin Sheen, Taraji Henson, Keith Sweat, Cedric The Entertainer 

Directed by: Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou; The Caveman's Valentine)

Premise: The telling of the real-life story of Ralph Waldo "Petey" Green, an outspoken ex-con who talked his way into becoming an iconic radio personality in the 1960s, in Washington, D.C. Sparked by both the era's vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness, Petey openly courted controversy at a white-owned station.

[Pubrick]

keith sweat, ha!

and martin sheen, friend of the blacks.

[hedwig]

i LOVED eve's bayou when i was younger. i'm afraid to revisit it only to discover it sucks.

has anyone else seen it?

[Ghostboy]

I actually sold my copy of Eve's Bayou today, along with about thirty other DVDs I never watch, and got eighty dollars worth of Criterion goodness in exchange. But I used to love it, too, and I bet it would hold up if I watched it again now. But too late for that.

This looks like it has two terrific performances from two great actors. And it's funny how the trailer does the equivalent of the parenthetical credits you see on the back of DVDs. We audiences sure have short term memory, yes we do.

[w/o horse]

Above average biopic with most of the shortcomings of a biopic and all the advantages of a good story and a strong central performance.  The camera wasn't exactly adventurous but there was a surprising number of bold, blunt shots that helped delineate the intensity without straying into sentimentalism (the easiest place for a biopic to land).  The third act was handled quite well too.

[JG]

this was really cheesy and forgettable except for the two main performances, which were both excellent.  it is a good story, but this easily could've been made for TV if it wasn't for the acting.  i don't know if i recall the bold, blunt shots that lth is talking about. there were a few instances where i wish they just held on a shot and let the music play out, rather than go into montage mode. 

but my theater experience was totally enhanced by the two people behind me, who commented on every thing and sang along to every song that played (and there were a lot).  example: cheadle's character gets drunk and his buddy quickly grabs the bottle from him.

"AWWW, HE DRINKIN' THE GOOD SHIT"

i just watched the trailer for the first time and it makes me want to like the movie way more than i actually do. 

[w/o horse]

When you wanted them to the hold the shot and for the music to play out, I was glad they cut it short, and they probably cut it short with a solid foreground shot of Cheadle.  Which I thought was blunt and bold, because it showed restraint and empathy for its character.  And I don't think would have happened in a made for TV movie.  But the first act and the final scene could have been from a TV movie easy.

[grand theft sparrow]

If the second half of this movie was as good as the first, it might have made my top 10 of the year.  But after the MLK assassination sequence in the middle, it starts to shift the focus from Cheadle's character to Chiwetel Ejiofor's character and it doesn't work as well.  Still good though. 

Cheadle just dominates this movie in a way that few actors in biopics are able to (Jamie Foxx's ears just started ringing).  It almost seems at first as if he's doing a caricature but after a while, you believe that Petey Greene was just a larger-than-life kind of guy and you trust that Cheadle is doing him justice. 

The aforementioned MLK sequence drives that point home.  It's an incredible centerpiece for this film, partially because it gives us a chance to see a different side of Petey that we have yet to see in the movie and mostly because I can't remember ever seeing a movie wherein we see the common man affected by King's death.  We've all seen either movies about him specifically or movies where other things are happening and suddenly, someone runs in and says, "Turn on the TV!  They shot Dr. King!"  But I can't remember an extended sequence in a film where you see how everyone took that news and it provides a great moment for Cheadle; the monologue he delivers on the radio while DC is burning is perfect.  I doubt that any other actor could have delivered the line, "We shall overcome" without a trace of sap.  He deserves to be one of the four guys to lose to Daniel Day-Lewis this year.

But the movie peaks there.  It's never bad, only never again as good, like if Boogie Nights didn't have the Rahad Jackson sequence or Feel My Heat after the New Year's party.  And Ejiofor's speech at the end may be dead-on what the real-life guy said but he delivers it in such a TV movie cheesy manner, as JG and w/o horse mentioned.  Ending on that note kind of betrays the tone of the rest of the film.

It's a good movie overall and it especially makes me angry that this film didn't find an audience, yet Tyler Perry's bullshit opens with $30 million weekends.