Belle tells the story of a mixed-race woman raised as an aristocrat in 18th Century England. The political overtones of the story are as relevant today as they were then. Continue reading “Review: Belle”
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Tag: Belle
Watch This: Trailer for A United Kingdom
A United Kingdom is the latest from director Amma Asante, who directed Belle. It stars David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike as Prince Seretse Khama of Botswana and Ruth Williams, his white English wife. Continue reading “Watch This: Trailer for A United Kingdom”
Brain Dump: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, The Good Wife, Covert Affairs, Person of Interest
A brain dump about this and that. Join in with a comment.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Why do articles about Belle or Beyond the Lights refer to Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a “newcomer?” Are people blind? Or just blind to black faces? She was the star of the TV series Undercovers in 2010. She was in Larry Crowne in 2011. She was in Touch in 2012. She has, in fact, been acting in parts on our TVs since 2005. If so many media critics and reviewers haven’t noticed her before now, maybe they should get their vision checked.
The Good Wife
Whew, Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) is putting herself in so much jeopardy to keep Cary (Matt Czuchry) out of jail. Every time Kalinda does anything I wonder if this is foreshadowing the way they plan to write her out of the show. The rate she’s going, she could end up in jail herself.
Covert Affairs
I’m sad to hear that Covert Affairs was canceled by USA. This is a great show with fantastic female parts including Piper Perabo and Kari Matchett as CIA operatives. Personally, I think their ratings fell because they kept the show on Thursday night. The number of quality shows competing for eyeballs on Thursday is through the roof. I’ve been watching 3 or 4 of them on Friday and Saturday, the slate is so full on Thursdays. If they base eyeball counts on live views and not delayed views, their numbers look bad. But that doesn’t mean the fans gave up on the show.
Sarah Shahi Leaving Person of Interest – For Now
Shaw (Sarah Shahi) and Root (Amy Acker) actually kissed on Person of Interest this week. All it took for Shaw to give Root the kiss she’s been wanting was for Shaw to: A) want to save Root, and B) need an excuse to make a grand sacrifice so she could be gone from Person of Interest.
Why be gone? Sarah Shahi is pregnant and needs to leave the show – at least for now. She’s having twins! The decision to end Sarah’s current involvement in the show in this way is explained by executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman in an EW article.
Cats out of the bag… http://t.co/CFeRljn94J
— Sarah Shahi (@onlysarahshahi) January 7, 2015
Extra has an interview with Sarah and the cast about her exit.
Watch This: Trailer for Belle
Belle will be in theaters May 2. It looks good to me and has a terrific cast. The film stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw from Touch, Undercovers, and Larry Crowne. The film is based on a true story about an illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral who is raised by her aristocratic great-uncle.
Also featured in the cast are Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton, Sarah Gadon, James Norton, Tom Felton and several more well-known actors.
Themes around race, class, and the status of women promise to make this film meaningful. The mindset of the British in the 18th Century is under the microscope here, but the same issues are still with us today.
I hope it isn’t one of those films where the good white folks save the poor helpless mulatto girl – the preview doesn’t sound like it will be.
The cast talks about the film in this interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The director Amma Asante also appears in this interview.