Video-On-Demand: Robin's Hood

I've often debated about gay/lesbian cinema: why is it lesbians come up with great stories and filmmaking, while gay men (and their hetero counterparts) plant and weave every known stereotype about gay men into every film?

This rainy Sunday afternoon, I stumbled across an excellent indie lesbian movie called Robin's Hood. From start to finish, I was completely engaged. Robin Hood is the unlikely story of two woman in Oakland, California on the same wrong side of the tracks on the opposites sides of shared wrong tracks yet each struggling in their own way to make life, their lives, other lives and really the world a better place.

Refreshing, smart and taking its name from the legendary hoodster, Robin's Hood is an amped up urban lesbian re-vision. Brooklyn (Clody Cates) is a cute French/American lesbian who has settled into making a living as a thief. Brooklyn also loves the ladies and there seems to be a lot of them, until she meets a social worker with a heart of gold named Robin (Khahtee Turner).

Robin is trying to make a difference in her urban community, unfortunately the system doesn't allow her to do what's best for her clients/community. Soon Robin is looking for a new job. What may have worked in Sherwood Forest during medieval times certainly calls for a cultural, political, racial, social and gender makeover as Oakland is the good ol' USA where being Black, gay, unemployed, educated and in a mixed race relationship immediately and abruptly brings a modernity to Robin's current hood and urgency. Robin and Brooklyn are pseudo contemporary folklore, however, definitely not living in a fairy tale. Robin's Hood is another look into the what is wrong in our nation and the tremendous odds and challenges faced each day by everyone.

Simply put, Robin's Hood is a really good film, director Sara Millman is definitely a filmmaker with a very bright future ahead. Thank goodness for oversize flat screens where one can generate a theater feel to get the maximum cinematic effects of an overlooked gem like Robin's Hood.

Demand Robin in your hood now!