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Black Nativity
| Released |
6 December 2013 |
| Director |
Kasi Lemmons |
Starring
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Jacob Latimore, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J Blige, Tyrese Gibson, Nasir (Nas) Jones |
| Writer(s) |
Kasi Lemmons |
Producer(s)
|
William Horberg, T.D. Jakes, Galt Niederhoffer, Celine Rattray, Trudie Styler |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
93 minutes |
| Genre |
Drama, musical |
| Rating |
PG |
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Hark! The Harlem Angels Sing.
I don’t know if we are built for Gospel music in Ireland. The years of repression in our religion, our culture and even in our national dance, (where the aim is to be as poker stiff as possible from the waist up), has led to a kind of awkward discomfort with the freer, testimonial style that is Gospel. This makes it difficult to evaluate Black Nativity. The music is a big part of the film, culminating with a big gospel number at the end. Sure it’s smaltzy and predictable, just like most other Christmas films, but really it all hinges on whether you enjoy the music, so I was nervous.
Black Nativity was originally a song-play, written by Langston Hughes in the ‘60s and retold the story of the Nativity with an all black cast, featuring classic hymns sung in a gospel style and even including elders from the local community as the ‘Wise Men’. Productions of Black Nativity have been running in various American cities since then. Adapted by Kasi Lemmons for a modern audience, this film builds the story, such as it is, around the a production of this play in Harlem, New York. The central character named Langston in tribute to the originator, and played by Jacob Latimore, moves to Harlem to stay with his estranged grandparents, (Forest Whitaker and Angela Bassett), as his single mother (Jennifer Hudson) is down on her luck. What follows is a series of encounters with various mysterious and not so mysterious characters (pregnant Maria and Jojo are inevitably in search of a place at the inn) as Langston struggles to choose the right path.
Langston’s journey is interspersed with extended musical numbers, some of which work better than others. Jennifer Hudson is always impressive, however some numbers just don’t connect despite the vocal gymnastics on display, again this may be a resistance on my part to fully embrace the Gospel style. The musical numbers also suffer from a lack of imagination in staging. Whilst shooting on 35mm gives the film a richness, the cinematography is too traditional to be exciting. Setting the film in Harlem works in imbuing the story with an immediacy, whilst simultaneously giving it a perennial feeling that all good Christmas tales must have.
Black Nativity is a good old fashioned uplifting Christmas film. There is absolutely no subtlety here. The acting is hammy, the songs over the top, the plot sparse and obvious BUT that’s kind of what you want from this type of film. Maybe it’s the season that’s in it, but despite my reservations about Gospel music, I just couldn’t dislike Black Nativity. It’s a Christmas miracle.
- Bridget Deevy |
