What the future holds for Black cinema
Empire contributor Amon Warmann on giving Black filmmakers the space to tell more varied stories
“Why do Black people always have to be excellent?” asks Slim, daniel kaluuya’s character in Melina Matsoukas’ upcoming drama Queen & Slim. “Why can’t we just be us?” That question, posed with frustration and weariness, feels especially significant when you consider the challenging task of depicting the Black experience on screen. The film itself has been met with some criticism for being yet another film that depicts police brutality against Black people. But the film is not just another story of struggle. It’s also, crucially, an intimate Black love story — something which still feels like a rarity on the mainstream stage.
We’re still at a stage where major Black releases have to worry about more than just being an entertaining film. Some filmmakers have skilfully managed to achieve just that: Ryan coogler’s revolutionary Black Panther, for instance, gave us the customary superhero action while grappling with big, meaty themes of race and identity. But not all mainstream Black offerings need be positioned as huge cultural milestones. There’s room for both the euphoric genre subversion of Jordan Peele’s Get Out, and the harsh reality in films such as Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk. and we shouldn’t look to any one film to do it all.
Thankfully, as decision makers have begun to realise how bankable inclusive representation is, the Black experience on screen is consistently pivoting away from slavery and struggle into something more complex and wide-ranging.
last year, Jordan Peele’s Us told a cerebral story about how we can sometimes be our own worst enemies with a family — who happened to be Black — and it became a huge hit, earning $255 million worldwide. Plus, upcoming films such as Waves, Just Mercy, Clemency and more will give us Black protagonists as fathers, lawyers and love interests, demonstrating us as the sometimes flawed, sometimes heroic, sometimes broken, and always multifaceted individuals we all are.
There is still more work to be done. But as we enter a new decade, Black cinema seems to be moving in the right direction: away from films about Black suffering to showcase, and towards the full breadth of the Black experience.