Girl Week 2019: See You Yesterday

Welcome to Girl Week Blogathon 2019! It's Day 1, obviously, and I'm looking forward to reading all of the wonderful posts you guys put up this week in celebration of women. If you're interested in joining the festivities, please check out the announcement post for the details. Let's kick this thing off.

Directed by Stefon Bristol.

2019. Rated TV-MA, 87 minutes.

Cast:

Eden Duncan-Smith

Danté Crichlow

Brian Bradley

Marsha Stephanie Blake

Jonathan Nieves

Myra Lucretia Taylor

Michael J. Fox

Wavvy Jonez

Rayshawn Richardson

When we meet C. J. (Duncan-Smith) and her best friend Sebastian (Crichlow), they're in the last class on the last day of school before summer vacation. They convince their science teacher, Mr. Lockhart, to let them borrow some equipment over the break. The actor playing Mr. Lockhart is both an homage to the past and a clue about what's coming next. It's none other than Michael J. Fox. That next thing is C. J. and Sebastian going home and trying to build a time machine. It turns out they've been at it for quite a while. This time, they succeed, and are able to travel back to the previous day. When they return to the present, however, grim reality sets in. C. J.'s brother Calvin (Bradley) is gunned down by police. Naturally, C. J. thinks she can save her brother's life with her newfound ability. She and Sebastian trying to do just that ensues.

At face value, See You Yesterday is a fun and fairly unique experience, despite the tragedy at its core. It's fun because each trip back to that fateful day results in an adventure filled with both danger and humor. Stock characters, such as local bullies and armed robbers, become constant obstacles, but never wear out their welcome. The relationship between C. J. and Sebastian is relatable, infectious. and refreshingly, platonic. The chemistry between Eden Duncan-Smith and Danté Crichlow is a powerful concoction that makes all of this bubble to the surface. Their bond has to be strong because Sebastian is also the film's voice of reason. Whenever danger is afoot, it's he who warns her. He argues with her on several occasions because he thinks what she's doing is wrong. This causes a rift between them, but it's one we know can be mended, giving us hope. When Brian Bradley's Calvin is injected into the mix it becomes even more potent. He doesn't always understand his little sister, almost never when it comes to science, but he knows how intelligent she is. Calvin's intrinsic trust of her, even when he doesn't believe what she's saying, shines through his performance.

This is C. J.'s movie, however. As an African-American female who is the protagonist of science fiction movie, she's a fairly, but not totally unique character. 2015's Home and 2018's A Wrinkle in Time immediately jump to mind as others. One major difference between those movies and this one is that C. J. is clearly the smartest the person in the film. Only Sebastian can claim to be on her level. Therefore, she drives the movie from both the perfunctory and emotional standpoints. Nearly everything in the film happens because of her, not just to her. It puts her in the envious position of always believing she controls her own fate. She stands in contrast to Starr, the lead character in The Hate U Give. In that film, the police also kill a young black man close to the lead character. However, what follows is the world happening to Starr until she eventually realizes her own power. C. J. is actively trying to reshape her world in a way no one besides herself believes is possible right from the start. Her eternal optimism won't let her do anything other than try and try again. She views each failure as one step closer to success. We should all feel this way, but she embodies it. Eden Duncan-Smith's performance never wanes, making it impossible not to root for her.

Once we dig just a little bit beyond the surface, we find the movie's true value, it's social commentary. The event that drives the narrative might make it easy to miss. We as viewers are tempted to grab the low-lying fruit and think this another movie where the police are the villains in the black community. In this case, the villain is merely a figurehead. They are more consequence than antagonists. To bring up The Hate U Give again, one of the most powerful scenes in that movie features the dad giving instructions to his children on how to behave in the presence of cops. In See You Yesterday, what happens when you don't follow those rules is just an unfortunate fact of life. This movie is really getting at other things. First, every move we make is an important step toward determining how our lives will eventually turn out. It's a universal point we can all identify with. The other point strikes the heart of Black America. The thread that runs through much of black cinema since 1989's Do the Right Thing is that black men are in danger. It's a truth that permeates reality. In both reality, and on the screen black women often try to come to our rescue. The harsh truth is that try as they might, saving us might not be possible for them. We must do this ourselves. On the other hand, the film encourages black women to never stop trying. This might seem contradictory, but they are two avenues many black women simultaneously travel every single day.

The biggest drawback of See You Yesterday is that it purposely, and unnecessarily limits its audience with its use of profanity. It's a Netflix film with a TV-MA rating, which is the equivalent to being rated R. Normally, I'm not a guy who is bothered by such things. After all, some of my favorite movies of all-time are littered with curse words - GoodFellas, Scarface, Menace II Society, and so on. Here, it feels like a misguided attempt to "keep it real." What's happening on-screen is real and relatable enough that the edge provided by f-bombs is extraneous. I'm sure the writers, Bristol and Fredrica Bailey, and director Stefon Bristol, all disagree with me, but this feels like it should be as family friendly as possible to maximize the number of teen and tween eyes laid upon it. It's a movie that deserves to be seen by all of them, particularly those of color. Instead, it's a movie destined to be missed by many by virtue of its rating. I get that having it on Netflix is much less a hindrance than a theatrical release with an actual R-rating. However, there are plenty of parents who exercise control over what their children watch. For them, that TV-MA acts as a stop sign. Why have anyone miss a film so clearly for them?