Idlewild

A cinematic rarity hits the big screen on Friday, August 25th. A period film made by and starring African Americans. And it's pretty good! "Idlewild" is the film and I had a chance to catch a sneak preview in Indianapolis during the recent National Association of Black Journalists convention.

Going in, I didn't know much about the film other than the OutKast connection. I thought it was going to be about the historic Idlewild resort community in rural northwestern Michigan, developed in the early 1900's by African Americans who could not visit other popular Great Lakes resorts because of segregation. (The likes of Madame C. J. Walker, Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, and Zora Neale Hurston were among frequent vacationers. W. E. B. DuBois and Dr. Daniel Hale Williams owned homes in Idlewild.) But I was wrong. During the Q&A session following the screening, Felicia Henderson, features editor of the Detroit News, asked co-producer Erika Conner about any connection and her response indicated that Andre' Benjamin just "made it up," and no research had been done on the name Idlewild. Interesting.

Conner told interviewer Patrick Riley, chair of the NABJ Arts and Entertainment Task Force, that "Idlewild" started out as project for HBO with a budget of $1 million. However, as it progressed the budget ballooned-- repeatedly-- until it hit a final number in the $30 million range! AMAZING! They'll need a huge opening weekend at the box office if we're to see anything like this again. But, the "R" rating may hurt the numbers.

Here are my thoughts in a nutshell:

1. Andre' Benjamin and Antwan Patton definitely sing better than they act. But, their acting is pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised.
2. The photography (Paschal Rabaud), special effects, and editing (Anne Goursaud) are all fantastic.
3. The cast is impressive. (Ben Vereen, Cicely Tyson, Patti LaBelle, Terrence Howard, Ving Rhames, Malinda Williams, and more.)
4. The costumes (Shawn Barton) are great.
5. The choreogrphay (Hinton Battle) is exhilarating!
6. The music is OutKast, but it's mostly previously released OutKast.
7. Sitting through the preview, I felt like the film was about 10-15 minutes too long. (I think Ms. Conner told us it was just under 2 hours, however theaters have it listed at 1 hour, 30 minutes)
8. How many times can Terrence Howard play the same type of role?

There is a good mix of music, drama, comedy, violence, sexual inuendo, animation, and more. The way everything came together in the film my final impression was that I had sat through a sort of hip-hop version of "Purple Rain."

Oh, Good Evening!

Other Reviews of "Idlewild"

BoxOfficeMojo.com Foul-Mouthed Musical Isn’t All That Jazz by Scott Holleran

EW.com (Entertainment Weekly) by Owen Gleiberman

Orlando Sentinel Boi, Oh Boy Are They Bad Actors by Roger Moore

Village Voice About a Boi by Michael Atkinson