Girl Week 2020: The 40-Year-Old-Version

Welcome to Day 1 of Girl Week 2020. Thanks in advance to anyone who decides to join me in my annual celebration of women in film. I'm looking forward to reading what you good folks come up with. In the meantime, let's get started.

Directed by Radha Blank.

2020. Rated R, 129 minutes.

Cast: Radha Blank, Peter Kim, Oswin Benjamin, Imani Lewis, Haskiri Velazquez, Reed Birney, Antonio Ortiz, TJ Atoms, Stacey Sargeant.

    Radha (Blank) is nearing her fortieth birthday and is feeling the shame of her unrealized potential. Her shortcomings are rather public since she was once included on a list of America's most promising playwrights under the age 30. Years later, with her career stalled, she's helping teach high school kids to create their own play and struggling to use her art to pay the bills. A steady stream of rejection is weighing on her while she tries to figure out her next step towards relevance. Much to the chagrin of her longtime friend/agent Archie (Kim), she decides to try her hand at hip-hop. By day, Archie continues trying to get her gigs in the stage world while she tends to the kids on their overly suggestive production. By night, she sets out to create a mixtape to jumpstart her rap career.

    The thing that jumps out immediately is that this is filmed in black-and-white. Since many of us are walking around with movie quality cameras in our pockets, we are beyond the point where economics plays a role in whether or not a film is in color. Going this route is a purely artistic choice, and it pays off. From a purely visual standpoint, cinematographer Eric Branco creates sharp contrasts and gives depth to seemingly tiny settings. Narratively, it helps us pick up on the nuances of the characters and differences between them. They often seem to be in relief of the background, but not in an unnatural way. It's done in a manner that lets us know they are the focus while simultaneously creating a supporting character out of the city of New York. 

    The most important of these characters, of course, is Radha. We walk lock-step with her on her reawakening, and get a fully realized three-dimensional picture of a woman trying to figure out how to live her best life. She wrestles with how much compromise she can handle, if that's any at all. She's unsure how much to bite her lip and suffer as things happen to her, rather than being done by her. It becomes clear that her foray into rap is as much about assuming control over her art as it is about the art itself. She struggles with control on all fronts, and with all people in her life. She never comes off as particularly strong or weak. Like most of us, she just finds herself in a string of predicaments she has to navigate. Some she does better than others. As we watch this happen, we realize there really is no villain in the cinematic sense of the word. There is definitely a person who does not have her best interest at heart, and is painted as an all-around despicable guy. He's definitely using her and everyone around him to further his own status and agenda, but he's not going out of his way to defeat her. The demon Radha most has to contend with is herself. 

    As an actress, Blank delivers a very natural performance. There are no big, showy, Oscar-worthy moments, but the entirety of her portrayal feels like a real human being dealing with real situations. There is a charisma about her we attach to even if we can't quite pinpoint the reason. After a while, we realize that even at her most vulnerable she's not only aware of the world around her, she's constantly processing it, and we're anxious to hear what she thinks of it. It's what carries the film. 

    The rest of the cast follows suit, as far as how genuine they seem. Most of them are just being, as opposed to acting. The exception to this is the relatively grandiose turn by Reed Birney as the Broadway mogul who seems to be standing in the way of Radha's greatness. He isn't bad, just clearly in opposition to the rest of the players. This is purposely done and works because Birney really leans into his role. Oswin Benjamin, playing a character only known as D, is the unsung hero of the group. His quiet performance is punctuated by a couple mini-explosions that serve the film extremely well.

    This is all enabled by a very well written screenplay. Our lead actress is also the person responsible for this bit of semi-autobiographical magic. To complete the triple threat, Blank directs, as well, and proves extremely capable in all three areas. The script she's churned out is both poignant and funny, and leaves me looking forward to what she might come up with next. It resists the urge to over-tell its story. In fact, it's perfectly underwritten in certain spots. Characters are allowed to breathe, sigh, and develop through their silences and body language. This is especially true for Radha, but just as much for D. What is written avoids melodrama even while making it clear that our heroine is dealing with personal crisis. It's also observant about things we've known for quite some time. Most prominently, it skewers the restrictive framing of Black culture by white power players. It also touches on the narrow scope through which much of hip hop views itself, the involuntary role-model status of those in the public eye, and teens coming to grips with their own sexuality. It's greatest strength is that even though it provides great commentary on all of that, it is not about any one of those things. They make up the storm swirling around the woman at its center, but it's always about her. The way it should be. 

It's not too late to join. I'll be here all week. If you need some inspiration, check out the posts from Girl Week 2019.