Word: gilliams
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...however, chooses to employ motifs even more basic to Western civilization, and for that matter, mainstream Hollywood moviemaking. The last fifteen minutes of the film are a testament to the moral cleansing power of the family. Gilliam, at absolute rock bottom, turns to Indigo in what begins as one of the film's most powerful scenes and quickly deteriorates into one of its most unbelievable. Gilliam begs Indigo, whom he had not seen or spoken to in over a year, to take him back. "I love you," he tells her for the first time, "I want...
This dialogue sounds every bit as preposterous on screen as it does on paper. What is even more surprising is that Indigo takes Gilliam back. What begins as an attempt to represent the arrogant Gilliam at his lowest, utterly humbled, comes off as somewhat unconvincing...
...film ends with the equivalent of a typical Hollywood everyone-lives-happily-ever-after scenario: a ten minute cinematic whirlwind through the next eight years of Gilliam's new life. He and Indigo get married, have a son, and eventually move into the same Brooklyn brownstone Gilliam grew up in. What Gilliam now does for a living is a complete mystery. Lee does not take the time to explain this. He seems concerned only with driving home the virtues of the family and having his film neatly end the same way it began. The film opens with the young Gilliam...
...acting, under Lee's capable direction, is strictly first-rate. Denzel Washington's performance is nothing short of tremendous. Washington portrays the various aspects of Gilliam's life--the arrogance, the defermination, the hopelessness--with convincing power and emotion. Even the difficult onstage scenes and trumpet close-ups seem natural enough. Another Oscar nomination, this time for best actor, should be in the offing...
Similarly, Lee's use of metaphor, so effective in School Daze and Do the Right Thing, is very uneven. On one level, Lee rises to his previous standard in his attempts to discuss the exploitation of Black jazz musician by white businessmen. Both the characters of Indigo and Gilliam's mother are endorsements of the role of the Black women in American history. It has been universally acknowledged that the Black woman has played a stronger role in supporting Afro-American society than the Black male has. And Lee's pro-family theme is particularly relevant to Black society...