SXSW Review: ‘Black’

Hey, how about a blaxploitation action flick without much action and a whole lot of lack of anything blaxploitation?   Then check out ‘Black’, the new film from director Pierre Laffargue.   Laffargue injects his “action” film with some head-bopping, 70s era tunes, and the film definitely deals with some black vs. white issues.   Unfortunately, the feeling is really not all there, and much of the film ends up being humdrum and, ultimately, boring.

At the heart of ‘Black’ is the heist of some priceless, uncut diamonds.   After a heist gone wrong, French thief Black (MC Jean Gab’1) is forced to go on the lam.   He jumps at the bit to do a little traveling to Dakar where said diamonds are being housed.   Needless to say, things don’t go according to plan.   Throw in a little African mysticism and a freakish arms dealer with a flesh-eating virus, and you have the inner workings of a pretty cool actioner.   While the cool level peaks most of the time, the film just falls way short of being interesting.

It didn’t help that ‘Black’ was chosen as a Fantastic Fest midnighter, and most of the crowd watching it were on less than a scheduled amount of sleep.   Had it played earlier in the day, the harshness with which we find ourselves spitting venom at it may be less than it is.   That doesn’t mean the film is good.   Aside from a halfway decent opening heist, and an okay chase scene through a parking lot at about the 3/4 point, the film is mostly talk, talk, talk.

Certain aspects, actually cool aspects, about Black and his involvement in the heist are brought up and completely discarded in the filmmakers’ attempt at keeping us guessing where the story is going.   Certain elements are even established and quickly become a complete waste of time, as they are never utilized to any amount of potential.

Laffargue’s direction is all over the place.   He uses slow-mo, quick-mo, flash-editing, all the tricks of your typical, modern action movie.   However, his heart just doesn’t seem to be in it most of the time, and it comes out in the finished product like a punch to the jaw.

But, beyond all these downfalls in the film’s execution, what really stands out is how un-blaxploitation the film really is.   It has an African-American lead actor.   It has some 70s music on the soundtrack.   There are some obvious day-for-night shots.   Take that away, and all you have is just another, plodding action movie that doesn’t even really deliver on that promise.

Overall: 2 stars out of 5