BLACK DYNAMITE: I can dig it
6/29/09
I had the pleasure of seeing BLACK DYNAMITE over the weekend at the ABFF. I didn’t get a chance to talk with the filmmaker’s but I definitely recommend seeing this when it is released.
Black Dynamite is a look back to the 1970’s blaxploitation films and their fight against the man. From filmmakers that seem to want to celebrate the ancestors of an era that was began by Melvin Van Peebles and his Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song that sparked films like Super Fly, Black Caesar, and Shaft. And I say celebrate because Michael Jai White and Black Dynamite give us a film that doesn’t take itself serious and revels in all of the ingredients of an era that some wanted to go away because of the negative stereotypes towards African Americans. Here the filmmakers are inspired by those films and concentrate on the elements that made those films cult classics. Black Dynamite is hilarious. I laughed every scene. I loved this film because it reminded me of a time when films were made (I LIKE TO THINK) by filmmakers that loved to make movies and didn’t see themselves as anything other than artist that want to entertain and did it with whatever means possible. All you filmmakers that see yourselves as anything greater are a bunch of jive turkeys.