13 March 2012

The Sweetest Thing


The sweetest thing
I've ever known,
was like the kiss on the collar bone...


        --The Sweetest Thing,   Lauryn Hill



            Fifteen years ago, a 24-year-old screenwriter-director named Theodore Witcher created one of the definitive romantic dramas of the 1990s, Love Jones. Laying Chicago's hip spoken-word set against a backdrop of rain-soaked scenery and a tumultuous courtship, the story of characters Nina Moseley and Darius Lovehall, played by Nia Long and Larenz Tate, became legendary.

            Unlike the gritty black films opening the 1990s like 1991's Boyz n the Hood and 1993's Menace II Society, 1997's Love Jones depicted an artistic niche of African-American life. Instead of having his characters struggle with "the man," Witcher wanted them to wrestle with themselves and their careers, as humanistic beings trying to get over their personal shortcomings. In hindsight, the first-time director created a mold from which many black romantic dramas draw and presented an idea of love that still lingers, like America's undying affection for Cliff and Clair Huxtable.

--courtesy theroot.com

            One of my  favorite songs ever, frrom one of my favorite movies-


2 comments:

Moanerplicity said...

My all-time favorite movie featuring intelligent, attractive, literate, creative, progressive BLACK FOLKS!


One.

Don said...

One of my fave films, great storylines, fave actress, favorite songs in the world.