Month: January 2017

HIDDEN FIGURES

(l to r) Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) , Mary Winston Jackson (Janelle Monáe), and Dorothy Johnson Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) are hired by NASA for their mathematics ability.

HIDDEN FIGURES

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

After just five minutes of watching “Hidden Figures,” I was hooked into rooting for these three Black women, who somehow during the 50’s and 60’s, managed to get hired by NASA as mathematicians.

Trying to keep a critical eye, I have to say that the subject matter of this film has the same time frame as other films in this year’s crop, like “Jackie” and “Fences.” The characters in each of these films have the pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy up on the walls of their home.

Even though segregation was still an issue during this time period, these women, Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) , Mary Winston Jackson (Janelle Monáe) , and Dorothy Johnson Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) somehow managed to get a hands down great mathematics education under their belts.

Let’s face it, even today, in 2017, the United States is 29^th in math and science on the world stage.

So, what did these women do at a time when women were not even encouraged to educate at all?

After a little research, I discovered that each of these women were educated in an all-Black University. So, they did not have to deal with the pressure to be subservient or less than what they were capable of being.

One other observation was that, they were each light-skinned, straight-haired in appearance, which also removed a few other barriers in a world that sees the dominant group through this lens.

Mathematics is not boring in this film.

Katherine kills it with her mathematical demonstrations.

Mary wins in court, when she applies to take an all-White, all-male Engineers course.

And, Dorothy made me laugh with her rationalization for taking a book that she needed out of the Whites-only section of the library.

Kevin Costner as Al Harrison, the director of the Space Task Group is convincing as the color-blind, fair-minded leader, who fixes the coffee pot situation and the bathroom sign situation, all while beating the Russians in the space race.

I have to hand it to these women, they are all geniuses when it comes to balancing marriage, children and careers.

They all were also teachers before being hired by NASA.

Dorothy was especially alert to the quickly shifting computer oriented times.

I lived through these times, but from the White privilege perspective. This was a time when many Whites became allies to Blacks. It was also an important time of the women’s rights struggle.

Sad to say, but many of the male protesters did not want male privilege to change. Thank you NASA for employing some enlightened male employers and leaders.

Taraji P. Henson as Katherine G. Johnson, a mathematician who calculated flight trajectories for Project Mercury.

Biography of Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson

Biography of Mary Winston Jackson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jackson_(engineer)

Biography of Dorothy Johnson Vaughan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Vaughan

Donation

1/30/17 Hidden Figures

MISS SLOANE

Jessica Chastain demonstrates female intelligence as a successful lobbyist.

MISS SLOANE

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

“Miss Sloane” is all about being a successful lobbyist, being a confident woman, living as a wounded soul, and self-sacrifice in order to create some meaning in one’s life.

The mention of lobbyists has been batted around in the last few elections, without any real understanding of what they do. “Miss Sloane” fills in all the blanks and then some.

The most recent election over-shadowed this film, because it deals with some of the hot topics, like gun control and female leadership. No one is ready for either, especially as entertainment. But, entertaining it is.

Jessica Chastain carries this film with elegance and strength. This is what strong, intelligent women look like, how they behave and how they think. She is not an anomaly.

Her character, Miss Sloane, shows us what women need to do in order to be successful in a man’s world. She needs to sacrifice marriage, emotional health, physical health, having children and trust. A very high price to pay.

If it were a woman’s world, she could let her guard down, she could express her feelings about things, she could trust others not to stab her in the back, and she could form lasting, win-win relationships.

It would be a nurturing, warm and friendly environment. Marriage and children would definitely be a priority.

Being a lobbyist is depicted here as being almost as ugly as our last election process.

There are some good men in Miss Sloane’s world, however. Rodolfo Schmidt (Mark Strong), who is head of a law firm opposing the National Rifle Association proposals, throws her a life raft to work for him, instead of for the NRA.

Mark Strong also played opposite Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty,” as George, a senior CIA supervisor.

Miss Sloane finds herself forming emotional attachments to male escorts. Jake Lacy plays Forde, who is sexy, compassionate and, means it, when he says that he does not reveal his clients.

The other women in this film are also wounded souls in many different ways.

Director, John Madden, who directed the “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” films and “Shakespeare in Love,” makes this film hard to second guess. Every second is engaging, surprising, entertaining, and educational, with an excellently assembled cast.

Donation

1/13/2017 – Miss Sloane

MOONLIGHT

Growing up in the “Moonlight” by the ocean.

Alex Hibbert as Child Chiron , Ashton Sanders as Teen Chiron and Trevante Rhodes as adult Chiron.

MOONLIGHT

Film Review By Marlene Ardoin

Based on the play “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue” by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the film, “Moonlight,” is told in three parts about growing up Black, gay and masculine in America.

I don’t think that the masculinity of Black men has ever been examined in quite this way.

The film poses the question that if half the black young men are in prison, who is left to be the male role models for their young, male children? This film answers the question in a very poetic way.

Growing up in a racist society, as young children, we pick up on subtle clues that Black is somehow less than, inferior, not capable, and easily bullied. Being female is viewed in much the same way.

On top of all that, what if you are Black, gay and fatherless. How does a young male, who is discovering his sexual identity, survive, let alone, thrive in such an environment?

Until Barack Obama came onto the scene, the Black success stories were the drug dealers. They had the smarts, the money and the tough, masculine example of success.

Since Chiron did not know Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr., Tiger Woods, or any Black Power members, but he did know a few drug dealers, he ends up modeling himself after the drug dealers.

This film is getting a lot of critical notice, and I think that it deserves to receive it.

Another aspect of this film which stood out for me was the ocean as an environment, which becomes a poetic character in the film. The fresh, ocean air becomes a symbol for freedom, love, vulnerability, romance and caring.

Chiron learns to associate the ocean with pleasure and the freedom to express his sexuality. We discover that Chiron is a romantic, with his own ideas about love. He associates the ocean with love.

This film’s gay youth, Chiron (Alex Hibbert), grows up with his mother, Paula (Naomie Harris), who is sometimes caring, but most of the time, she is escaping or surviving.

Paula is a tragic figure, but she has somehow managed to provide a home for her child, in spite of her meager resources.

She and her son, Chiron, are not homeless, which, under the circumstances, has very little meaning, but it did provide some stability for her fatherless son.

Paula does love her son, which is what saves him. Had Chiron been abused or exploited, this story might have had a very different outcome.

As a child, Chiron is bullied by his peers. And, thanks to the drug dealer example, he learns how to stand up for himself. His tormentors discover that they have a tiger by the tale. Chiron develops a sense of pride, grit and self-worth.

I really loved the ending to this film.

“Moonlight” has Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali, the crack dealer, Best Supporting Actress for mother Paula (Naomie Harris), Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.

Donation

1/3/17 # Moonlight