Talk to Me

[sophinisba]

This afternoon I went to see the movie Talk to Me with my parents and my aunt and uncle. The guys weren't so enthusiastic by my mom and my aunt and I really loved it. It's about Petey Greene, a radio DJ and talkshow host from Washington, D.C., and takes place mostly during the late 60s and early 70s (the costumes! omg the hairstyles!!). Don Cheadle plays Greene and Chiwetel Ejiofor (he was the Operative in Serenity and Luke in Children of Men) is Dewey Hughes, the radio program director who hires him and later becomes his manager. There were times when I thought the narrative dragged a little, but the relationship between the two men was fascinating and both actors did a fantastic job.

Here are a couple paragraphs from a review by Carina Chocano in the LA Times:

Mostly, Lemmons and screenwriter Michael Genet (Hughes' son) focus on the passionate and volatile friendship between Greene and Hughes, which Cheadle and Ejiofor (who have yet to make a false move between them) bring vividly to life.

[A paragraph about how a lot of the other characters "are appealing but one-note".]

But this is a love story, after all, so it makes sense that the others would recede indistinctly into the background. Cheadle's Greene is as heavy-lidded, mercurial, self-destructive and free-spirited as Ejiofor's Hughes is alert, focused and disciplined. Convinced at first that they have nothing in common, they eventually bond over their shared roots and commitment to the cause, and the marriage of their particular strengths creates something new and strange. If Cheadle and Ejiofor's command of the characters is compelling and precise before the friendship takes hold, it takes on another dimension afterward as we come to see them through the appreciative eyes of the other.

The odd-couple relationship adds another layer as a lively argument on identity politics. The ongoing debate between Hughes and Greene also seemed to encapsulate a moment in African American history when identities were being redefined and roles debated.

Like Greene, the straight-laced, be-suited Hughes grew up poor and disenfranchised, seeing his older brothers go to prison. Unlike Greene, he put himself through school hustling pool and studied poise and carriage under the nightly tutelage of Johnny Carson. If Greene was outrageous and impolitic, fearlessly speaking out against poverty and racism, the restrained and polished Hughes worked effectively within the system, making it possible for someone like Greene to get on the air in the first place.

I like these excerpts because they give some idea of how slashy it all was (although she doesn't mention that there's a scene where Greene shows up buck naked at Hughes' apartment in the middle of the night) but also some of the bigger issues it gets into. And the part about the roles is more complicated than it sounds. Both of the characters really surprise you at times. Parts of it were very funny but there were other parts that made me cry – and Mom too, I'm pretty sure. There's this sequence about them staying on the air and taking calls after the assassination of Martin Luther King that's just so moving and I know my parents were remembering what those days were like. I'm really glad we went to see this movie and I think a lot of you would enjoy it.

Comments

[aprilkat.livejournal.com]

This was such a fantastically acted movie - I hope the guys get nominated for awards for it. I thought it did a good job in showing us both of them in complicated and sympathetic ways.

I'm glad it's being seen elsewhere than just DC!

[sophinisba]

Don Cheadle is always amazing. Earlier this summer I saw him with Adam Sandler in Reign Over Me. It wasn't nearly as good a movie as this but his part was perfect.

I wish it were being seen by more people and at more theaters here! At this showing it was only the five people from my family and one other person!