- 10 years ago
- Patrik-Ian Polk, creator of the LOGO series Noah’s Arc and subsequent film Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom, as well as Punks (2001) and The Skinny (2012) is one of the few filmmakers around portraying the lives of gay African Americans. His new movie Blackbird, based on the novel by Larry Duplechan, is a coming of age story that is both melodramatic and charmingly offbeat. Shot in Polk’s hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the film is unusual for several reasons, not least of which is its main character’s plight: a small-town, devoutly Southern Baptist teen heavily conflicted about his homosexuality. It isn't an issue often explored in popular media. The movie stars sweet-faced, angelic-voiced Julian Walker as charismatic choirboy Randy, who wants desperately to be a good Christian, yet keeps having disturbing (to him) sexual dreams about his schoolmate and friend Todd, on whom he clearly has a crush. This attraction is obvious to everyone but him, especially his coterie of open-minded friends and fellow drama students, including the wisecracking, openly gay Efrem (Gary LeRoi Gray, who has the movie’s funniest lines), football player Todd (Torrey Laamar), who is dating rebellious preacher’s daughter Leslie (D. Woods), and Crystal (Nikki Jane), who wants to lose her virginity to someone she actually likes, i.e., Randy. The kids come up with the idea of putting on a male version of Romeo and Juliet, starring Julian and the incredibly game Todd. Though Randy’s friends are[...]
