Do you remember the promise of Hav Plenty? How about Loving Jezebel? Let me take you back then: it's the late nineties, Spike Lee has shown those of the negroidal persuasion interested in a celluloid life that they can pay homage to Gordon Parks eye and move on to construct and shoot narratives of black life. But unlike Spike's racially focused slices of verité, a sort of laid black metropolitan chic takes the spirit of a few independent flicks. Now when I say independent, I don't mean Warner Independent, or "My grandfather just left me a million dollars. Wanna make a movie?" type independent. These were films shot without a studio, on location, with actors whose names meant near nothing to anyone but their friends.
Then the life of black film character became obsessed with 'keeping it real' and the street life. For years, middle class struggling black artists were either afraid or simply not interested in putting their stories on the screen. And for a near full decade the gangsta flick (and its derivatives, See Soul Plane) reigned supreme.
Enter, I'm Through With White Girls. Not the movie, just yet. It starts with a song by the Dirt Bombs a sort of R&B meets garage band with a black lead singer named Mick Collins. About six and a half years ago they played in LA and performed a song called 'I'm through with white girls". Courtney Lilly, who had just come from a fellowship at Nickelodeon , heard the song and thought "Now that sounds like a cool premise for a film." Later, Courtney would go on to write for such hit shows as "Everybody hates Chris" and Arrested Development." But “I’m Through With White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks)” was his glancing blow on the cinematic cheek. While not intended to be a message film, Lilly was writing in reaction.
"In 2000, 2001 you had these movies like Love Jones and Brown Sugar where you're basically seeing the same dude. It's going to be Morris Chesnut and he's going to be a lawyer, he's going to be super handsome, and gifted in certain ways…It's not a fair representation of the people that I knew…" Jay, the lead character of "I'm Through With White Girls" was designed to be the polar opposite of those talented tenth poster children. And while he may lack the grace and social style of the Morris Chesnuts of the world, he, or rather his situation, vindicates his folly by being remarkable funny.
"It's weird to me that black comedies aren't as reflective of black humor, like stand-up, as they could be." Lilly laments "They lack the real unique point of view black comics are known for." Lilly combated this problem beautifully in the script. It's not a complex plot; boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy does whatever the hell he can to get girl back. But through it all there's an authentic black dialogue about race, sex, and the meaning of relationships that's not bogged down in politically correct conventions or the excessively gender stereotyped caucus of the gangster genre. This is a barely established genre, a black urban romantic comedy that can discuss race without being obsessed by it. The script lends itself to the serious question of a black urban middle class aesthetic: Does it have more in common with the "Mo Money Mo problems" thug nation proliferation of chains and rims or the indie rocker who is singing sad true stories about getting his heart broken?
If there's a bad guy in the story of the film "I'm Through With White Girls" then let's tell the villains' original tale. There once was a town called Hollywood that only saw film as a way to make money and not as a way to further important national dialogues. The villain passed on the film. It wouldn't be surprising to me if the title alone relegated the script to the mulch beds of many assistant producers' flower beds. But if there's a hero in the tale of "I'm Through With White Girls", then let's name her Lia Johnson. She's the romantic lead, Catherine Williamson by name in the film, the half white Canadian, half black American Valley Girl-sounding author with multicolored dreads that the main character, Jay, falls for. But then there's Lia Johnson, mix raced actress in Hollywood who's been on everything from Angel to Star Trek New Voyages, who went to Columbia with Lilly and knew what to do with a script as layered and funny as White Girls. You'd think there would be some crossover between the character and the producer. But aside from the clip of their speech, it's apples and oranges. A producer is someone who can get stuff done, either by hook, crook, or a gang of money. Ms. Johnson seems to always be utilizing one of that triad.
Take her procurement of a director for example. Johnson met Jen Sharp at a silent auction the producer threw to raise money for the film. Conversation led to being editing buddies which led to Johnson trusting Sharp's eye enough to take her reel in consideration of the film. Sharp's previous work was an off beat comedy about a woman whose interpersonal baggage manifests in the form of a physical giant box, entitled "Boxed". The short is about her navigating her day from dawn to bed with a giant box. It's the type of conceptual comedy that once you see you can't help but giggle at.
"That's what I like: Comedies that make people laugh but there has to be a theme under it. Like senseless comedies that say nothing do not appeal to me at all." Sharp smiles as she speaks.
Her short assumes the audience has a brain, a rarity for comedies "I think its because people are fed things. And so the assumption is that people don't want to think. But you can think and laugh. It is possible. So really it's just lazy film making."
Johnson is the type of person who thinks of worst case scenarios. Worst case scenario, she thought, she'd get a film with the same comic sensibility as Boxed. But both Sharp and Johnson knew the director had some growing to do; Sharp was willing to over prepare to make sure she did it right and Johnson was willing to take the chance. She had faith in Sharp's abilities. "Jen has this awesome sensibility. She does the awkward in the funny and the funny in the awkward really well. Jen really draws that out. She got what Courtney was doing. Plus I really wanted a woman, plus she's black, plus she's mixed, I couldn't have chosen a better person."
For Sharp, like most of the crew, it was the script that drew her in. It's rare for a young black person in Hollywood to be able to work with a script that handles race, especially mixed race identity with care, and compassion. '"My dad's black my mom's half Chinese half white." Sharp explains. "I lived in both worlds my whole life. I think my sensibility having lived in both worlds really helped the film to be accessible to both groups. I really liked dealing with the issues of dealing with being in the middle. I play beach volleyball and I'm like the only black girl out there. And in a lot of things I do I'm the only black person there. And I get so frustrated, why are things still so segregated? I mean I know why but it's good to work on a film where you can talk about some of the issues without it being the only thing you're talking about."
"I'm Through With White Girls" has no distribution deal. No DVD release, no nothing. And this is the tragedy of "White Girls."
Now all they needed was a star. Where does one find a black male who can pull off funny as he goes through a string of romantic mishaps, falls for a neurotic novelist, and works as a comic book artist? Why Star Trek of course.
Lia Johnson met Anthony Montgomery on the set of the television show "Popular" a few years back and had kept in touch with him ever since. Montgomery had gone on to star as Ensign Travis Mayweather on Star Trek: Enterprise, but hadn't ever had the chance to do a feature. Johnson approached him with the script and he was hooked.
"I thought the social commentary that was being given was wonderful, without being preachy," Montgomery mused in a phone interview. "I hate movies that are so constantly self indulgent that they are constantly hitting you with their message. I felt we accomplished the task of a making a movie that was entertaining and yet you still get a positive message from, many positive messages."
There are positive messages in the film, but they take a back seat to comedy, to slice of life realness that kind of hurts sometimes, to cameos great performances by older black actors who haven't seen in years (Good Times aficionados will want to keep an eye out for 'old buffalo butt'); in short the messages take a back seat to great film making.
Don't feel you have to believe me. The audience and film festival circuit has already spoken.
At the Pan African Film Festival they received the Audience Award for best feature. At the Hollywood Black Film Fest, they won best feature. Lia Johnson collected best actress from the Atlanta Film Festival. The Houston World Fest gave them a platinum jury award for best romantic comedy. The Roxbury film festival's audience award gave them best narrative feature as well as the Martha's Vineyard film festival. Lia Johnson just got back to the country after having showings in London and Amsterdam as well. Yeah, it's been crazy.
The reception to the film has been intense to say the least "We got a standing ovation at Roxbury." Jen Sharp exclaims. "We screened at the Houston World Fest where it was mainly white people, and we were screening a DVD so it wasn't the highest quality and we still won best romantic comedy. And I had other film makers coming up to me, like forty year old white guy film makers, being like "I love your movie. Your movie was really special." I actually had a manager hounding me by the end of the week trying to represent me . And I was like the only person he was hounding because he'd heard so much about the film. And this was at a mainly white festival."
End of story right? I mean you get a bunch of talented people crowded around an excellent script, a work ethic the likes of which the Jesuit brothers would flinch at, and you make an amazing piece of work that impresses nearly everyone who's seen it. Plus you're in Hollywood already, the studios should be knocking down the door, right? I mean after all, the studio executives have heard the din of plummeting sales at the latest gangster flicks, right? And while the market for the Tyler Perry flicks is large, they know there are other black demographics that want to see their lives validated on the big screen just like every other American, right? Some studio executive has the common sense to pick this film up for theatrical release at least on some limited 200 screen limited viewing contract, right?
Wrong.
I'm Through With White Girls has no distribution deal. No DVD release, no nothing. And this is the tragedy of "White Girls."
Talk to Lia Johnson and you'd never know the costs of making such a film. "I believed in the film so much it was exactly what I wanted to do with my money. So when I get on a mission I can't stop until it's done. I just had to birth this film." She financed the entire thing with friends, family and investors who saw where she was coming from. And before you start getting delusions of her being a baller, she's not. She's a grinder. She works hard and hustled for every piece of this flick. "The hardest thing was getting money. Because every time we wanted to do something, we ran up against that challenge. We overcame the obstacles, by just talking about the flick, and every now and then people would step forward and take a chance. I had done shorts before but not features. But people kept believing in the film and taking chances. So yeah I had to put up my own finances."
Ms. Johnson won't entertain questions about how much the film cost, only how much she's willing to sell it for. And even then, its only with serious buyers and serious offers. Cast and crew all agree, that although everyone put serious time, energy, and love into the film, it's Lia's baby. And its growing strong.
"I'm Through With White Girls" has the potential to be a sleeper hit, one of those indie wunderkinds like Swingers, or Brick. All it takes is a Hollywood producer with enough common sense or testicular fortitude to take a chance. But it has another possibility as well, "I'm Through With White Girls" could be that film festival secret that holds the next generation of cinematic talented tenth close to its bosom.
Jean-luc Godard wrote five issues of Gazette du cinema before writing for the film classic Cahiers du cinéma , which re-invented how the world thought of cinema and invented the French New Wave. Perhaps I draw too strong a connection, but already the talents associated with "White Girls" are infusing other films, and other projects. Anthony Montgomery and Ryan Alosio, the "white" friend in the film are working on a project together, while Montgomery also has three album hip-hop deal in Germany with a release date sometime next year. Director Jen Sharp's latest penned project "Native Honky", which is about a white guy who used to be part of the Black Panthers and his black daughter who starts dating a white guy, has been accepted into the IFP market in NYC. Writer Courtney Lilly currently is in discussions with Katt Williams on a project while writing for the TBS series, "My Boys". The show also features Kellee Stewart, who has a lead roll in "White Girls." Lamman Rucker, who plays the best friend of Jay, has a key role in the new Tyler Perry film "Why did I get married?" But what bodes best for "White Girls" is Lia Johnson. She started a production company, "Turn Soul Films" to get "White Girls" done. And now she's looking at new scripts. She's wherever the film screens, casually handing out flyers, giving the good conversation, and showing what it takes to make an independent film great.
Maybe it's an overstatement to correlate a future film movement with a well received underground film festival flick, but stranger things have been known to happen. It's officially your loss if "White Girls" shows at a theater near you and you miss it.
The film screens next at the American Black Film Festival. Oct 25-28
