A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy (review)

Dennis Dortch's feature film debut has been around since winning its Sundance Festival debut in 2008 and testifies that black independent filmmaking is alive and well, even if it has been virtually ignored by mainstream film goers. However, the film does have its admirers who have found the film on premium cable and DVD through its heavy promotion on urban radio stations, social networking sites, and even Black Entertainment Television in between the hip-hop videos marketed to young, black hipsters. The action of the film follows six couples ostensibly during one day.

The film consists of six entertaining vignettes of various sexual situations over a single day. Dortch arranges his vignettes like a mix tape of banging beats and sexy, neosoul slow jams, a style reflected in the choice soundtrack that effectively complements each erotic and emotional narrative. The first piece, Reciprocity, treats the subject of oral sex. It opens with one of the most unabashed and realistic female orgasms ever captured on film. Her Man is about a booty call that goes seriously wrong for a married man who can't keep track of his cell phone. When his left-behind cell phone rings, Helene answers it ("I'm D'Andre's girlfriend") and has a merry chat with one angry wife. Tonight I looks at the way the desire for romance and the effect of clumsy crudeness shape two young teens', Tamala's and Jabari's, failed attempt at sexual relations one night. Reprise begins with what appears to be a reprise of an ongoing quarrel, as Candi (Nana Hill) tries to convince her lover that having her finger up his rear end will heighten his sexual pleasure. Tonight II continues the examination of teen sexuality from Tamala's point of view later in the same night as she is presented with the option of sleeping with the older brother of her best friend, Jabari. In the last piece, American Boyfriend, Dortch presents us with a comedic situation that we have seen countless times: daughter tries to hide inappropriate boyfriend from rigid parents. In this case, Dortch gives us black Jesse—the American boyfriend—and Chinese-American Jasmine.

Dortch's editing choices defy a stable linearity, which forces viewers (if they must) to accept the possibility that the day and nighttime sequences are happening simultaneously. Equally pleasing is Dortch's style of using handheld cameras to give viewers a shared sense of intimacy with the characters in tightly controlled spaces. Dortch also scores well with knowing the difference between sexiness and mindless pornography. Dortch aptly captures the teasing sexiness of nonverbal cues reflected in mirrors, and the teasing banter between couples. However, Dortch should rethink the use of natural light for his next film or learn to handle its effect on film. Many viewers may have problems with the underlighting in several scenes that can either heighten the mood or add to the confusion about what is going on. The acting in the film is stellar; Dortch should be congratulated on the work he does with his cast of unknowns who give natural and unmannered performances that obviously connect with audiences. Although the film's technical aspects are rather pedestrian, it is, at turns, angry, comedic, and playful. Ultimately, the performances make A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy a pleasing debut feature.

The open sexuality of the film, although tame, is a welcome relief from the Madeas with their pious gun-toting moralizing about waiting for a good church-loving romantic partner. And that is the point. A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy is definitely not for the Tyler Perry crowd; it is pretty much the anti–Woman Thou Art Loose with a more realistic grasp on human relationships and what real people do when the lights are off (and sometimes on). However, the film's gender politics are as traditional as Perry's because it does not consider that homosexual relationships can be black and sexy. Perhaps Dortch...