Blueprint to an Oscar

Recently I was asked if the wildly lauded and multi-Oscar nominated film 'Moonlight' reminded me of my first film 'Blueprint.'  With a ton of trepidation, I responded, "Yes."

Both 'Moonlight' and 'Blueprint' share and explore certain and similar narratives, aesthetic and imagery.  However, 'Moonlight' director, Barry Jenkins, original text writer, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and I share very different experiences warehoused in familiar human vessels.  At our most visual, we are African American.  We are men.  At our creative core, we have been reared, cultivated, educated, slain, and rendered invisible and uniquely marginalized, if our achievements are off of the sports grids.  With this, it makes my, and maybe Barry's and Tarell's' storytelling and view of our shared world very special and quite nuanced.

As a filmmaker, 'Blueprint, was deliberately inspired by two (2) things.  The first was the lack of images which unfolded my particular life scenario; and, secondly, Marlon Riggs' 'Tongues Untied', Kai Wai Wong's 'Happy Together,' Jenny Livingston's 'Paris Is Burning' and Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing.'  I intepret, output and share with the world via my art, language and expression based on all of my days before today, all the way down to the shores of my ancestors' original departure.

So as I cheer on the filmmakers of 'Moonlght' from Director to Grip, I know 'Blueprint' is apart of the DNA and path into the Oscar spotlight and gold standard.

The 2016 Oscar Nominations Are. . . .

THE 2016 OSCAR NOMINATIONS have been announced. The current members of the Academy has brought forth a listing the is pretty much the same and reflective as the very first list of cinema professionals from the year 1929.

Greenlight is a blog dedicated to presenting opportunities to the diversification of filmmakers and cinema. Greenlight shares information on fellowships, grants, and filmmaker residencies to showcase a broad range of films with a wide range of genre and storytelling.

When filmmakers of all classification can greenlight their own productions and share engaging stories, innovative camera operation, dynamic cinematography and a wide range of cast and crew members who bring their vision into fruition, only then will the academy evolve to an Oscar list of nominations that captures the essence and culture of the American landscape rather the economic and marketing strategies of Hollywood.

When that Oscar nomination list appears, Greenlight will gladly provide you with a link. Until then. . . . .STAY TUNED.

Mildred Pierce - The Original

As HBO's mini-series of the same title begins to air, it's only appropriate to recognize the original 1945 Warner Brothers Studio classic Mildred Pierce, starring one of Hollywood's all time greats, Miss Joan Crawford. Mildred Pierce brought Crawford her only Oscar, resuscitated her career, solidified her as an actress and legend of Hollywood's Golden Age.

Mildred Pierce is about so many things. The endless American desire to possess things. The human quest to achieve. The need to survive. The want of living the good life. The challenges of parenting. The complexities of social class. And how greed is so deeply rooted and intertwined within.

Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford) is a strong willed housewife who leaves her husband after his infidelity finding herself without a real career with two young children to provide for, including an avaricious teenager daughter, Veda played brilliantly evil by Ann Blyth. Mildred goes on to become a very successful, rich and hardworking restauranteur providing her Veda with all she can, but this is never good enough for Veda and others.

Although Mildred builds a successful business, she would never have the pedigree that Americans are also seemingly obsessed with, although the nation fought to separate itself from the monarchy and ideals of European aristocracy. This bring me to the wardrobe, a sort of glamorous coats and armor that wealth can provide even without the heritage. The furs, the hats, the clutches, the heels, the sartorial women's suitings, dazzling gowns and slinky dresses are mere draping.

In the end, we learn being a good stern mother is a very challenging position, especially for a single woman in black & white or color no matter what the income bracket and Mildred Pierce crossed all American classes and dreams.

See the original - Mildred Pierce.

True Grit

The Coen Brothers definitely have a vision in cinema. The Coen Brothers consistently take classic elements in movie genres and storytelling and flush and explode all of these elements of the classicism out into expertly crafted filmmaking. This time around the result is a western, True Grit.

True Grit feels more like a dark drama but wants to be a story driven Western. Following the murder of her father, a 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) sets out to capture the killer Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Very clever and effectively resourceful, Mattie hires the toughest U.S. marshal her money can buy, a man with "true grit" by the name of Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). Against his wishes, Mattie insists on joining him in his trek into the Indian Nation in search of Chaney joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), who also wants Chaney for his own purposes. Once again Brolin sneaks in a great performance.

In another year when the Academy which gives out the Oscar awards and Hollywood has failed to integrate its imagines, stories, films, technicians, writers, directors, actors, editors, producers or otherwise with Blacks, it is a certain irony that Mattie is brought to recover her dead father’s body by a Black man. Mattie also purchases her horse with the assistance of a young Black boy. Finally she goes on to name the horse Little Black. Those darn Coen Brothers.

The western is a cinema genre of which I am not a big fan. I find it too steep in the Americana man and how the West was won without much said for all that was lost in the struggle. Nevertheless, True Grit has solid acting, the sets and locations are great and the story is engaging. Bang. Bang. Or ka-chang! Ka-chang at the box office.