Review of Southside with You (2016) by Howard S — 27 Aug 2016

Here is a movie about a nice guy and a nice strong willed girl on a first date. The entirety (running time 1hr 24mins) takes place over about 9 hours, including when they went to a movie (Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing - running time 2hrs). Kudos go to writer director Richard Tanne and his DP, Patrick Scola, for constructing this truly modest small scale film with nearly flawless shot framing. It is a very attractive film.

It is a little weird to watch this story about people who we think we already know. The film doubtlessly achieves its main objective which is to humanize such well known figures. I love the working class Chicago home, the car with the rusted floor board and the crappy tiny apartment. These are not the context that one is likely to associate with future POTUS and FLOTUS. There does seem to be a certain amount of creative license at play in focusing on certain aspects of a guy that we now know becomes US President, or speech-giver in chief. It does lay out one clear political note of an Obama doctrine of mentally and emotionally encompassing the POV and motives of others including opponents. As we know those opponents are unlikely to reciprocate the understanding. Parker Sawyers does Obama as well as anyone can be expected to without it becoming caricature. The powerhouse of this story is Tika Sumpter's Michelle (nee) Robinson. The ending is a little shaky, because it does not seem like a pissed off Michelle can be won over with a contrived gesture. But this is a story without an end, because it is literally an opening chapter.