Selma Review-Super Late Film Reviews

1964: Selma, Alabama. Despite being given the right to vote, African Americans around the country are being denied said right through rigorous intimidation and unfair practices. Enter Martin Luther King Jr, played to nuanced perfection by British Actor David Oyelowo who leads the inhabitants of Selma on a tumultuous journey from Selma to Montgomery in order to secure their rights in the face such violent and prejudiced opposition. So begins Ava DuVernay’s visually beautiful, quiet exploration into the people involved with the Civil Rights movement, their relationships and their personal struggles.

As the film opens to King and his wife Coretta (Carmen Ejogo) preparing for King to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, we in audience immediately realise this film will be big on the quiet interactions of its characters. Further reinforcing this is the innocent chatter of a group of young girls in church, chatter which is quickly cut short by what I can quite easily say was one of the most shocking scenes of violence I have ever viewed.

In the face of stubbornness from the President Lyndon B. Johnson, the fight for their right to vote is taken to Selma where before long, King and his colleagues become embroiled in a battle that completely transcends race and simply the displays the struggle for power between the oppressed and their oppressors.

Selma was certainly beautiful and intimate, with director DuVernay favouring close up shots to emphasise each character’s expression and reactions, giving a strong sense of humanity, person and realness to each individual role. In all honesty, the images that sear my mind are of the people; their emotions given more than just a cursory pan but rather a full focused moment in our sight. Unfortunately, this attention to detail meant that scenes were often protracted and bereft of enough action, often leaving the audience bored.

The standout of Selma was David Oyelowo’s performance as King.  All in all, Selma was a good film and despite it’s somewhat cliché ending (the whole end a historical/biopic film with ‘what happened after’ text writing thing is a bit done to death) and lack of real action, its great scenes redeemed it to a degree and left me thinking about it long after I walked out of the cinema.

7/10

All photos from the Selma promotional website

Why oh why: Can't I be Mindy Kaling?

To anyone who knows me it’s no secret that I want to be a writer. It’s a passion that is nothing short of all-consuming. However, not that many people actually know is how serious I am about scriptwriting, directing and acting; a love that came much later than my love for novels and hasn’t left since. While I performed in a Shake&Stir production of the Tempest, I was able to see what our director and writers did with the script and that left me with no doubt in my mind that I had to do this myself.

Only there were a few issues. Well one issue. I was afraid I couldn’t do it. I was afraid I wasn’t good enough, or smart enough or connected enough; but above all, I thought I wasn’t white enough. If you turn on Australian television or put on a film, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single character that isn’t white.

Like many people, Puberty Blues is one of my favourite TV shows

It’s a problem that’s not as bad on channels like ABC and SBS than channels like Ten or Seven. Even watching American television shows, I noticed that any non-white character seemed like an afterthought, an archetype to garner laughs or sympathy. The sassy black girl, the nerdy Asian, the clueless foreign student…The list goes on. I also realised that none of my favourite movies or television shows were created, directed or written by women, which prompted me to do more research only to discover that 95% of directors are men, despite 50% of film school graduates being women.

I was in a fit of despair. I thought I could never succeed, that I should just cut my losses and focus on getting in Med School. That is, until I discovered for myself, Mindy Kaling.

Mindy Kaling 

To any Office fans, I can assume you’re scoffing at my lateness. You’ve known about Ms Kaling’s amazingness for a while now. I’m sorry, please forgive me. I stumbled across this explosion of talent while I was looking for a new television show to watch and her new show ‘The Mindy Project’ (which she created) seemed like a good idea. I watched the first season in a day before realising I needed to pace myself. Even though I took my time watch the second season, it still finished too quickly and I found myself staring at a 2 month hiatus until the next episode. I’m not ashamed to say I cried. I was so upset. Here was a show about this Indian woman who couldn’t cook, had heaps of horrible boyfriends, spoke like ‘a twelve year old girl’ and she was the main character! I was shocked. It didn’t even occur to me that this could happen and so, of course, I lapped it up. Mindy (the character not the person) was this incredibly smart and unique character who was so intensely funny and addictive that I soon found myself imitating her voice and mannerisms which is a definite sign of idolisation.

During the Season Two hiatus I kept myself busy by reading, re-reading and re-reading certain chapters of her book, re-watching the Mindy Project and (obsessively) googling everything I could about Mindy. She went to Dartmouth College (which even as an Australian I know is REALLY important). With her best friend Brenda Withers, she created this insanely funny play called Matt and Ben, based on the lives of actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. It’s a dear wish of mine that I was alive back then so I could watch the play in all its hilarity instead of settling with Youtube clips.

Mindy then went on to work on television eventually becoming a writer on the lovely television show the Office. She also played the role of Kelly Kapoor.

Oh, Kelly!

Mindy is what inspired me to start writing again. I began talking to people I knew who knew about filmmaking, writing, acting and directing and became more informed about what I wanted to do. I owe a lot of my current confidence to the women who gave us the quote ‘There is no sunrise worth waking me up to see”.  //

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