xxGBHxx
Prominent Member
Sorry, I wasn't referring to you or your comments about the score. But I do believe some of the other comments on this thread border on sexism and racism (and the same is true of the threads on many of Kumari's reviews), and I don't believe that's a coincidence nor do I think it's acceptable.
However, I do find it amusing that people are getting so worked about something they have no intention of watching.
I commented on the JoJo Rabbit review that I felt that some films have generally been getting a higher rating because of the film subject and not on the subjective quality of the film.
I'll caveat this with the fact I'm not a fan of Beyonce or for that matter a hater. That said this film is not for me. I don't understand its message or it's value. You have some good visuals in isolation (sharp filming, lots of colour, sharp lines) and then you have images of African tribes, allegorical babies in baskets, "rap" kids miming, pregnant women, faux weddings and weird dream like sequences. It's all over the place. Visually each "song" is self contained but for me as a whole piece it was no different to watching MTV with nondescript, forgettable music and unconnected videos playing back to back. I'd liken it to a pretty standard music video formula with bigger budgets and a better camera crew. Perhaps I also missed the narrative thread but Pink Floyd The Wall (mentioned above) it certainly wasn't.
Being old, white, privileged and male (a full deck you might say) I'm not the audience this is aimed at and Kumari clearly is. It doesn't speak to me about a celebration of being black or of black heritage. It screams to me of an extremely privileged, over pampered pop stars' vanity project that is all style over substance. For example, I understand many of the costumes are designed by a number of the leading (white) designers. Surely if you're trying to "do something" for the black communities and celebrate what being black is there are countless designers of non-white origin that would dearly love the exposure and support. Why add to the white dominance problem when you have a clear opportunity to do something different and make point? Adding to that many of the images highlight the opulence and decadence of a minute privileged few. In no way does it scream to me "this is what you can aspire to" instead the message I get is lacking sincerity. It smacks of a cynical band wagon jump to ride the current woke wave to further your elite standing. It's a messy mish mash half way house that achieves nothing of political, racial or artistic value.
The supposed intent is elevating this *FAR* above what it deserves both artistically or for its supposed message. Everyone clearly sees something I don't or everyone is jumping on the BLM bandwagon and flagging anything vaguely positive as the best thing since sliced bread. I suspect that is out of fear of sounding even vaguely negative or worse they are fully paid up members of the SJW brigade. This could have been something far more - a true celebration of black and African culture and heritage mixed with images of successful black role models. Instead we get this sycophantic dross delivered through opulent visuals screaming "LOOK AT ME I'M WOKE" in a crass and misguided way.
Giving 10/10 for this is a travesty of scoring and a disservice to films that get 10/10 on their own merit and not through some weak attempt by an incredibly rich and privileged elite to make it mean more than it is.
G