- From Oscar® nominated director, John Sayles, comes an electrifying and vivid rock 'n' roll fable. When Tyrone, owner of the Honeydripper lounge, is faced with having to shut down his juke joint, his hopes rest on one man the famous Guitar Sam. It's a make or break weekend for the Honeydripper, this better be some Saturday night! With exquisite performances by Danny Glover, Char
Nicole Beharie (
The Express), Will Patton (
Entrapment,
The Postman), Charles Dutton (TV's
Roc,
Mimic) and Alfre Woodard (TV's
Desperate Housewives,
Primal Fear) star in this gripping true-life story. Falsely accused of distributing narcotics in a school zone, Dee Roberts (
Beharie) is offered a deal she can't refuse: plead guilty and accept a 10-year suspended sentence. The alternative: risk serving 16-to-25 in jail. Realizing a conviction would ru! in her life, Dee decides to fight back. Suing the DA for racial discrimination, Dee battles impossible odds in a case that will not only change her life but the laws of Texas as well.
American Violet may be based on the story of outrageous injustices committed against Regina Kelly of Hearne, Texas, but that does not make it a good film. It is, at best, a bad film with an important message.
American Violet is about a single mother of four, Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie), who is wrongly convicted of drug charges due to police racism and corruption. As she struggles to stay out of prison with the help of her mother, Alma (Alfre Woodard), Dee exemplifies a stalwart woman who refuses to plead guilty when offered a plea bargain. While names of characters and the town itself are changed, the story in
American Violet is allegedly altered only slightly in hopes of maintaining its tragic truth, that a plea-bargain system in Texas forced, in this case, impoverished a! nd sometimes innocent African Americans to accept guilty charg! es and t heir negative aftereffects.
American Violet's melodramatic sensibility attempts to spark the same indignation that fuels ACLU lawyer David Cohen (Tim Blake Nelson) to embark on a lawsuit against the head racist, district attorney Calvin Beckett (Michael O'Keefe). Cohen, with the help of a former narcotics officer, Sam Conroy (Will Patton), discovers enough evidence to disturb any viewer. While it is crucial to have artful dialogue about this politically offensive topic,
American Violet is not finely scripted or cinematically engaging enough to elevate it above second-hand documentary. Still, since the film does cover meaningful territory, there may be a place for it in classrooms, or it may inspire others to work on further exposing gross injustice for the benefit of our society. --
Trinie DaltonNicole Beharie (
The Express), Will Patton (
Entrapment,
The Postman), Charles Dutton (TV's
Roc,
Mimic) and Alfre Wooda! rd (TV's
Desperate Housewives,
Primal Fear) star in this gripping true-life story. Falsely accused of distributing narcotics in a school zone, Dee Roberts (
Beharie) is offered a deal she can't refuse: plead guilty and accept a 10-year suspended sentence. The alternative: risk serving 16-to-25 in jail. Realizing a conviction would ruin her life, Dee decides to fight back. Suing the DA for racial discrimination, Dee battles impossible odds in a case that will not only change her life but the laws of Texas as well.
American Violet may be based on the story of outrageous injustices committed against Regina Kelly of Hearne, Texas, but that does not make it a good film. It is, at best, a bad film with an important message.
American Violet is about a single mother of four, Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie), who is wrongly convicted of drug charges due to police racism and corruption. As she struggles to stay out of prison with the help of her mot! her, Alma (Alfre Woodard), Dee exemplifies a stalwart woman wh! o refuse s to plead guilty when offered a plea bargain. While names of characters and the town itself are changed, the story in
American Violet is allegedly altered only slightly in hopes of maintaining its tragic truth, that a plea-bargain system in Texas forced, in this case, impoverished and sometimes innocent African Americans to accept guilty charges and their negative aftereffects.
American Violet's melodramatic sensibility attempts to spark the same indignation that fuels ACLU lawyer David Cohen (Tim Blake Nelson) to embark on a lawsuit against the head racist, district attorney Calvin Beckett (Michael O'Keefe). Cohen, with the help of a former narcotics officer, Sam Conroy (Will Patton), discovers enough evidence to disturb any viewer. While it is crucial to have artful dialogue about this politically offensive topic,
American Violet is not finely scripted or cinematically engaging enough to elevate it above second-hand documentary. Still, since the film ! does cover meaningful territory, there may be a place for it in classrooms, or it may inspire others to work on further exposing gross injustice for the benefit of our society. --
Trinie DaltonFrom Oscar® nominated director, John Sayles, comes an electrifying and vivid rock 'n' roll fable. When Tyrone, owner of the Honeydripper lounge, is faced with having to shut down his juke joint, his hopes rest on one manâ€"the famous Guitar Sam. It's a make or break weekend for the Honeydripper, this better be some Saturday night!
With exquisite performances by Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen and Sean Patrick Thomas; and featuring musicians Keb' Mo' and Dr. Mable Johnâ€"Honeydripper is an award winning film, full of great music and plenty of soul.Music has often played a significant part in John Sayles' stories, but in Honeydripper it largely is the story, as the veteran writer-director’s 2007 film depicts a significant (if myt! hical) turning point when the past reluctantly gave way to the! future. The year is 1950. In the somewhat ironically-named town of Harmony, Alabama, old school blues pianist Tyrone "Pinetop" Purvis (Danny Glover) and his funky roadhouse, the Honeydripper, are on the skids, rapidly losing customers to the joint next door, where young people are flocking to hear more modern sounds. Against his better judgment, Pinetop dismisses his dignified but out-of-date singer (played by Dr. Mable John, one of the several real musicians who lend the film considerable authenticity) and books "New Orleans sensation" Guitar Sam, hoping to save his club from foreclosure. But Guitar Sam proves to be as elusive as Godot, and as the big night approaches, Pinetop is running out of ideas. Enter young Sonny Blake (Gary Clark Jr.), who ambles into town with his newfangled, self-constructed electric guitar and proceeds to rock the house with a style that suggests a combination of T-Bone Walker and Chuck Berry and effectively ushers in the rock 'n' roll era. Story-wise, t! hat's about it. This is a character-driven film, and there are a lot of good ones, including Lisa Gay Hamilton as Tyrone’s conflicted wife, Charles Dutton as his partner, and Stacey Keach as the corrupt local lawman. It's also a film loaded with metaphors and symbols, including the electric guitar as the dividing line between old and new and blues musician Keb' Mo' as a kind of one-man Greek chorus, dispensing homilies before disappearing into the shadows. The pace is leisurely, the dialogue colorful, and Sayles (who not only edited the film but has a small acting role as well) once again shows himself to be a modest master at creating movies for those looking for good, no-frills entertainment. A 30-minute making-of featurette and cast interviews are the principal bonus features. --Sam Graham
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