Black Nativity

Posted on November 26, 2013 at 5:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for thematic material, language, and a menacing situation
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	References to substance abuse
Violence/ Scariness:	Teenager threatens someone with a gun, references to violence
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	November 27, 2013

The poet Langston Hughes wrote a play called “Black Nativity,” a joyous African-American retelling of the story of the birth of Jesus with gospel music, and it has become a holiday perennial. Now it has been adapted by writer/director Kasi Lemmons (“Eve’s Bayou”) with a framing present-day story of a prodigal daughter, estranged from her parents for 16 years, brought back home at Christmas as “Black Nativity” is being performed in her father’s church.

Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson plays Naima, a single mother in Baltimore who has lost her job and is trying everything she can think of to keep her home. But even with two jobs, she and her 15-year-old son Langston (17-year-old Jacob Latimore), named for the poet, are about to be evicted. Niama has no other options left. She puts Langston on a bus to New York to see the grandparents he has never met, knowing nothing about them or the cause of their estrangement.

Langston is hurt, lost, and angry. He is frustrated that he cannot do more to help his mother and determined to find a way to get her the money she needs to keep their home. Things go badly when his bag is taken by a kid as soon as he gets off the bus and he is arrested trying to return a man’s wallet because the police think he is trying to steal it. In jail, he meets Loot (Tyrese Gibson), who jeeringly calls him “Lunch Money” and makes Langston feel powerless and disrespected.

His grandfather, Reverend Cornell Cobbs (Forest Whitaker), is formal and reserved. His grandmother, Aretha (Angela Bassett) is affectionate but clearly in pain over the past and afraid of being hurt again. Langston will do anything to feel that he is taking control of what is happening to him so he can return home.

Impressionistically told, with songs that serve as monologues, the movie becomes more powerful when Cornell’s church stages a gorgeous production of “Black Nativity” and Langston nods off to have a gospel-inspired dream that features Nas and, as an angel with white hair sticking up like a dandelion ready to make a wish, Mary J. Blige. When Langston sneaks out of the service in a desperate attempt to get the money, it leads to a confrontation revealing in ways he could not anticipate. The concluding scenes of redemption and reunion are tender and transcendent.

Parents should know that the storyline concerns foreclosure and eviction, family estrangement, law-breaking, teen pregnancy, and abandonment. A teenager uses a gun.

Family discussion: Why didn’t Langston’s family want to tell him the truth? What did the watch symbolize to Cornell? What did we learn from Langston’s dream?

If you like this, try: the poetry of Langston Hughes

Interview: Bishop T.D. Jakes Talks About the New Faith and Family Film Festival

Posted on August 1, 2013 at 8:00 am

Bishop T.D Jakes, who serves on the board of Beliefnet, has added a Faith and Family Film Festival to his inspirational MegaFest gathering, this year taking place in Dallas on August 29-31. Bishop Jakes spoke to me about why film is so important in providing spiritual enlightenment and what his plans are for this inaugural event.

What made you decide to bring movies to MegaFest?

The International Faith and Family Film Festival is one component of MegaFest, a huge event we have every year for families to come and to worship and have an opportunity to go to enrichment classes and more. This year it extends from comedy shows to Oprah’s Life Class on families and fatherhood and how we can strengthen fathers and what women can do when there is no father in the home. We’re covering a wide range of things and in the midst of that is the Faith and Family Film Festival. I’m interested in that because I have a for-profit business that produces faith and family entertainment. Some of the discussions will be about marketing within the faith-based community, the now and future of faith-based films and TV, getting your film and TV production launched, digital filmmaking distribution and marketing. And we’re going to have actors there like Anthony Mackie, Regina King, and a host of others. William Morris, the agency will be there, and Sony Pictures.

What is is about film that connects so powerfully with people?

Christ conveyed truth through the telling of stories. Today we use film to convey stories. We can do it in an entertaining way, a comedic way, a dramatic way and still be able to interject truth and faith so that people are stirred in their thinking and moved to worship and perceive God differently. I realize there are more people in the theater on Friday night than there are in the pews on Sunday morning. If you are going to reach the world, we have to go where the world is.

What films will you be showcasing?

One I am really excited about is “Black Nativity.” I’m serving as a producer on that one. It’s a star-studded cast — Jennifer Hudson, Tyrese, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett. Jennifer Hudson will be at the MegaFest event. We’re so excited about that film, which will be out for the holiday season. We have a film about Winnie Mandela, the love story of Winnie and Nelson with the background of apartheid. Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard star in that one and it will debut at the festival. My company with Sony is working on “Heaven is for Real,” shooting now in Canada, based on the book about the child who came out of an operation and said he had been to heaven and had all of this information he would have no way of knowing. That will be out at Easter time, but there will be a sneak peek of it at the festival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzr0wUqhAz0

Why is it so hard for Hollywood to get the message that there is an audience for uplifting films?

I think they are starting to get it. But it is true that there are people in some of those top offices there who are out of touch with mainstream America. It’s an education process. But when you see the success of “The Bible,” quadrupling the ratings at the History Channel — Hollywood is starting to get the message. That begins to tug on their hearts. When people like Tyler Perry and I interweave faith into our movies, it has been very, very well-received. This is an opportunity for us to let Hollywood know that we are here. And we will develop entertainment that is suitable for the audiences who will support that entertainment.

What kind of turnout are you expecting?

This is our first event in Dallas, so we do not know, but in Atlanta we had over 290,000 people and broke all records over the two years we were there. Thousands of people from all over the world have already registered. Where else can you go in the world and see that many people with their families sharing their faith? And faith is infectious. When you see others, it stirs your faith as well.

What movie spoke to you when you were growing up?

This really dates me. “The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston, sitting in front of the TV set, going “ooo” and “ahh.” I remember “Imitation of Life.” We watched it every year and my father would get teary-eyed. That was a rare thing! I would love to get the rights to do a remake. It tears your heart. It shows the importance of family. I think you learn as much from people’s struggles, maybe more, than you do from their successes. The real strength of the power of God is the struggles that we have in life and how we overcome them.

Related Tags:

Festivals Interview Spiritual films

Trailer: Jennifer Hudson in “Black Nativity”

Posted on July 6, 2013 at 10:57 am

Oscar winners Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whitaker star in this musical opening in November about a struggling single mother who sends her son to her parents’ home for Christmas. It is adapted from a Langston Hughes story and directed by the gifted Kasi Lemmons. Mary J. Blige plays Platinum Fro, who acts as a kind of guardian angel to the boy, played by Jacob Latimore.