Is That Black Enough for You?!?

An absorbing and nourishing documentary.

The sense of loss post-1978 is pronounced, but there is also a sense of celebration and discovery in Is That Black Enough for You?!? that lets us see a whole world of lesser-known films just waiting to be viewed, re-viewed and appreciated in new ways.

Mitchell makes a very solid case that the Black cinema of the ‘70s was just as formative and influential as the white auteurs who so commonly define that revolutionary era.

Mitchell has an inside-scoop aptitude for titillating details and unexpectedly insightful connections, a gift for association and cool, collected storytelling that propels the documentary along at a fast, satisfying clip, overwhelming us the number of nods to stars, to movies — big and small — and to his own impressions.

The doc works best when Mitchell, who narrates, gets past the facts and lets his acutely observant critical voice merge with his memories, as when he recalls seeing Spook on the big screen with friends as a teenager in Detroit. His education then, is ours now.

An occasionally static work if also an unequivocally important and gloriously comprehensive one.

Black Enough is smart, lively, and sprawling.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

this is peak cinema and i can not describe how good this movie is (i have never seen this movie at all)

Elvis Mitchell reminds us of just how distorted our view of American history has been throughout the 20th century... and there are no excuses for our collective ignorance. This is especially true of most Westerns, which mostly glorify European exploitation and land theft. Screenwriters attempted to correct this deliberately warping of reality in the 1960s and this reached its zenith in 1967, one of the best years in film history. Then another kind of exploitation began... and Mitchell doesn't attempt to apologize for it. We might actually appreciate what was accomplished by Black directors in the 1970s if their work is viewed ironically.

É como ler uma enciclopédia freneticamente. É um filme para ser consultado, pois as referências são lançadas a cada segundo e você fica perdido, porém, cumpre o seu propósito: mostrar o quão a cultura negra é desvalorizada no cinema. Assim, não tem como o filme ser ruim pois realmente comprova com imagens, diálogos e a percepção de personalidades. Porém, peca no excesso, e pode não se tornar tão imersivo por isso.