“The Forty Year Old Version” and “The Jenkins Family Christmas”
Hollywood films are not my first viewing choice; they tend to be too violent, race baiters and in many cases superficial. I don’t claim to be a film critic, but my gut reaction to “The Forty Year Old Version” and “The Jenkins Family Christmas” is anything but.
My viewing taste normally falls into the foreign film category. Up until recently, I’ve found Korean films creative and the production values attractive. However, now-a-days it seems the film industry, since “Parasite’s” resounding success, is overrun with Korean mania.
I find there’s a learning value associated with watching films from around the world. It doesn’t matter whether they are blockbusters or low budget — most foreign films seem to be about people’s life challenges.
And so, most feature films focusing on African-Americans have little appeal to me. The themes are often negative, revisited hits or basically they are just too patronizing — my little patience to sit through them is limited.
However, I watched two films this year I would strongly recommend: Netflix’s “The Forty Year Old Version” and “The Jenkins Family Christmas”.
- “The Forty Year Old Version” — Radha is a down-on-her luck NY playwright, who is desperate for a breakthrough before 40. Reinventing herself as rapper RadhaMUSPrime. She vacillates between the worlds of Hip Hop and theater in order to find her true voice.* Radha Blank plays herself — adapt in comedic as well as dramatic situations. There’s even a budding romance with a young entrepreneurial rapper. Us 40 + year olds will definitely relate to her trials and tribulations. Peter Kim is Radha’s agent and Oswin Benjamin is Radha’s heartthrob.
- “The Jenkins Family Christmas” — The film is about the first Christmas celebration of the Jenkins Family after the death of Papa. The family’s Christmas festivities are not without historical conflicts. Papa is gone and his legacy comes into focus. Robin Givens, director.
What fascinated me, when I compared the two films, was that “The Forty Year Old Version” is really a (North Eastern) New York City story and The Jenkins Family Christmas is a (Southern) Atlanta story. But both films, I think, remain culturally true. Many of us will find characters we knew from childhood.
Let me know what you think? I’m curious.
*IMDb