I Am a Man
- Episode aired Oct 2, 2012
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1.17: I Am A Man by Marcus Gardley: Perhaps written in frustration but engaging for it
There is an edge to this film from Gardley, one that is not as smooth as a knife but rougher and perhaps not as nicely crafted as it could have been. This edge seems to be one of frustration. The frustration comes from the inability of the black community to rise up effectively in the face of enduring senseless killings of black youths; or frustration from the fearful maintenance of the status quo from religious leaders; or frustration at the election of a black man who seems to have unfair expectations put on him which white leaders would not have to face; regardless of the reason – there is a lot of frustration here and it is probably just at the level where the material is able to rise above that and be engaging because of it.
This doesn't totally remove the edge though, because this remains and has a slightly unpleasant negative edge to the film – one of sarcasm and one of kicking a prone victim, not protecting themselves. I will not say that it is a great entry in the series because of this, because it is not – to be honest it did push me away a little by the simplicity of the three scenes and how direct it was in its presentation, and how obvious was its message. That said, it engaged me because of this – because it was so direct and filled with frustration. It isn't that it is smart, it is that it does feel very honest and lacking in gloss by virtue of how angry and direct it is, and for this it held my attention.
Johnson maybe doesn't bring that as much as the text does, so there is the feeling that he is being more passive aggressive rather than angry. He still works but driving harder to bring the material to the boil as much as possible would have been better. In the end though, the frustration and anger in the writing makes it interesting even if it also hurts it.
This doesn't totally remove the edge though, because this remains and has a slightly unpleasant negative edge to the film – one of sarcasm and one of kicking a prone victim, not protecting themselves. I will not say that it is a great entry in the series because of this, because it is not – to be honest it did push me away a little by the simplicity of the three scenes and how direct it was in its presentation, and how obvious was its message. That said, it engaged me because of this – because it was so direct and filled with frustration. It isn't that it is smart, it is that it does feel very honest and lacking in gloss by virtue of how angry and direct it is, and for this it held my attention.
Johnson maybe doesn't bring that as much as the text does, so there is the feeling that he is being more passive aggressive rather than angry. He still works but driving harder to bring the material to the boil as much as possible would have been better. In the end though, the frustration and anger in the writing makes it interesting even if it also hurts it.
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- bob the moo
- Oct 5, 2014
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