Wednesday, February 19, 2020

The Power of "The Photograph"

I am convinced that movie critics who are often white, do not get The Photograph and they may never get it so please do not let it keep you from seeing it. This movie is unapologetic Black Love, Black Joy, and Blackness. From the soundtrack that features Al Green to Luther Vandross, you know the songs that many of us used to have on a mixtape. Or if you are younger, the songs that you were probably conceived to during senior prom or college. Why does Kendrick make us feel guilty? Drake makes us feel like he is our cousin? And we just worry about Kanye...since his mom died.

These memorable moments are just the surface. This is a story that I have been waiting to see my entire life. I have seen it in my actual life and in the lives of my melanated friends, but never onscreen or onstage. I have never seen a mother show her love for her daughter by being, "An arc of a woman." I have never seen a Black woman be complex in her need, her wants, her desires, and her art while raising a child. THIS is why we should all be clamoring to see this film. And we should take everyone with us to share in this journey.

The critics say the story is "disconnected" or that the leads "have no chemistry." All untrue. The story is simply not a linear one. It is one connected by photographs, laughter, music, and silent moments. Some of the details are simply presented through the mouths of children and the physical beauty of Louisiana and New York City. And it's a Black story told through the lens of Blackness and Black feminine nuances. 

During the movie, I cried. Not because it made me sad or melancholy, but because it made me remember when a love like that was in my own life. It reminded me that we are not all "broken" or "waiting to be seen." It reminded me of me and Maya. In fact, there is a photo in the film that is a replica of one I took with Maya right before I left Chicago to move to NYC, uncanny. This story is not only about intimate love but it is also about the first love many of us ever experienced, which is the love from our mothers. Some of that love is incomplete due to us, as daughters and sons, not always seeing our mothers as full human beings outside of motherhood. Or the flaws that make us who we are. And how a mother's flaws or mistakes can make their children shine like diamonds or fall into the abyss until they reach adulthood and are able to reflect back. Imagine what that means. Imagine how that informs love for each of us. Especially in a world that is constantly telling us that love is out of reach or impossible. 

As Luther sings:

If this world were mine, I'd place at your feet
All that I own; you've been so good to me
If this world were mine
I'd give you the flowers, the birds and the bees
For with your love inside me, that would be all I need
If this world were mine
I'd give you anything


More films like these need to be made and produced for us and by us. Written with our full Black lives, bodies, minds, passions, and soul in mind. So go grab you a little love