Robert Minervini brings together four stories about black life in this subtle but strikingly elegiac documentary
Black cinema has been galvanised at every level, from blockbuster to arthouse to documentary, by the social-justice drive of the last half-decade. What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? is another worthy addition to that growing canon – even if it splits its focus too much, to the detriment of the greater political impact it might have had.
Italian director Robert Minervini, whose documentaries have frequently focused on the American south, divides his attention between four separate strands about African American lives in the summer of 2017: Titus Turner and Ronaldo King, young brothers running free in the edgelands; Judy Hill, an inspirationally foul-mouthed former drug addict, about to lose her New Orleans bar to gentrification; Mardi Gras “Indian chief” Kevin Goodman, keeping tradition breathing through his costumery; and Mississippi’s New Black Panther party,...
Black cinema has been galvanised at every level, from blockbuster to arthouse to documentary, by the social-justice drive of the last half-decade. What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? is another worthy addition to that growing canon – even if it splits its focus too much, to the detriment of the greater political impact it might have had.
Italian director Robert Minervini, whose documentaries have frequently focused on the American south, divides his attention between four separate strands about African American lives in the summer of 2017: Titus Turner and Ronaldo King, young brothers running free in the edgelands; Judy Hill, an inspirationally foul-mouthed former drug addict, about to lose her New Orleans bar to gentrification; Mardi Gras “Indian chief” Kevin Goodman, keeping tradition breathing through his costumery; and Mississippi’s New Black Panther party,...
- 10/17/2019
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
Since moving to the United States in 2000, Italian-born director Roberto Minervini has become one of the foremost documentarians of the American South. His fifth feature, What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire?, marks a departure in focusing, for the first time, on African-American lives in the region. Shot between Mississippi and Louisiana, the film weaves together three parallel threads: a pair of young brothers, Ronaldo King and Titus Turner, whose fierce bond is evident from the jump; a musician/singer/bar owner named Judy Hill, who conducts community meetings aimed at consciousness-raising; and members of the New Black Panther Party, seen […]...
- 8/16/2019
- by Lawrence Garcia
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Since moving to the United States in 2000, Italian-born director Roberto Minervini has become one of the foremost documentarians of the American South. His fifth feature, What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire?, marks a departure in focusing, for the first time, on African-American lives in the region. Shot between Mississippi and Louisiana, the film weaves together three parallel threads: a pair of young brothers, Ronaldo King and Titus Turner, whose fierce bond is evident from the jump; a musician/singer/bar owner named Judy Hill, who conducts community meetings aimed at consciousness-raising; and members of the New Black Panther Party, seen […]...
- 8/16/2019
- by Lawrence Garcia
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
It’s hard to describe a film that is merely a series of pointed, often fiery, discussions between different people on the topic of race, particularly when those discussions, ultimately, aren’t impactful. They manage only to rile up an audience that is already overwhelmed by their own experiences with race without providing any forward movement or direction. So let’s just call writer-director Roberto Minervini’s “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?” what it is: aimless and triggering.
It’s the most unproductive type of sociopolitical film, especially in today’s climate, in that it aims to incite but not to motivate. Documentarian Minervini (“The Other Side”) introduces us to black people in 2017, living deep inside the margins in Louisiana and Mississippi and feeling helpless following a rash of brutal murders of black residents that have gone carelessly unsolved. The constant lack of attention to...
It’s the most unproductive type of sociopolitical film, especially in today’s climate, in that it aims to incite but not to motivate. Documentarian Minervini (“The Other Side”) introduces us to black people in 2017, living deep inside the margins in Louisiana and Mississippi and feeling helpless following a rash of brutal murders of black residents that have gone carelessly unsolved. The constant lack of attention to...
- 8/15/2019
- by Candice Frederick
- The Wrap
Things are better than ever before, and things have never been worse. Such is the paradox that undergirds so many aspects of American life these past few years, and such is the paradox that Roberto Minervini seeks to explore to somewhat mixed results with his latest documentary, “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?” Visually forceful and narratively understated, the verité-influenced film leans hard on its lush black and white cinematography in its attempt to offer a poetic snapshot of African-American life in the Deep South.
The film interweaves four (though it’s really more like three) main threads with just one shared connection: they all are centered around African-Americans living in Louisiana and Mississippi in the sweltering summer of 2017. The fact that the end credits list each figure with their given names attached to a character-archetype speaks to film’s desire to mine the specifics of...
The film interweaves four (though it’s really more like three) main threads with just one shared connection: they all are centered around African-Americans living in Louisiana and Mississippi in the sweltering summer of 2017. The fact that the end credits list each figure with their given names attached to a character-archetype speaks to film’s desire to mine the specifics of...
- 9/4/2018
- by Ben Croll
- Indiewire
There’s a beautiful strand delicately woven through What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire? that traces the easy interaction between 14-year-old Ronaldo King and his half-brother Titus Turner, 9. Raised by their strict-but-loving single mother Ashlei to be alert to the dangers of the streets, the boys walk and talk, sometimes sharing their hopes and fears, sometimes just aimlessly goofing off as they tool around New Orleans on their bikes, visit a carnival funhouse, play among stacks of used tires, walk the railway tracks or look out over the water from the banks of the Mississippi.
Titus ...
Titus ...
There’s a beautiful strand delicately woven through What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire? that traces the easy interaction between 14-year-old Ronaldo King and his half-brother Titus Turner, 9. Raised by their strict-but-loving single mother Ashlei to be alert to the dangers of the streets, the boys walk and talk, sometimes sharing their hopes and fears, sometimes just aimlessly goofing off as they tool around New Orleans on their bikes, visit a carnival funhouse, play among stacks of used tires, walk the railway tracks or look out over the water from the banks of the Mississippi.
Titus ...
Titus ...
Following his unsettling look at Louisiana down-and-outs in “The Other Side,” Roberto Minervini tackles an easier topic to get audiences behind: a community of African-Americans in New Orleans whose stories reflect the toxic effects of centuries-old racism. “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?” is a natural direction for the Italian-born director to go considering his interest in exploring the flip-side of the American dream, and yet, despite charismatic subjects, the film seems so concerned with its handsome black-and-white aesthetics that it never feels angry enough. Given the state of race relations in the Trump years, any film drawing attention to the country’s obscene disparity is welcome, and Minervini’s underlying theme of fear — the fear instilled in African-Americans from the cradle — rarely gets the kind of attention it’s given here. Alas, the sum is curiously underwhelming, though the lack of similar fare at the...
- 9/2/2018
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
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