Summary
Is That Black Enough for You?!? is essential viewing for everyone to understand the history of Black cinema.
We review the Netflix documentary film Is That Black Enough for You?!? that featured at the 2022 AFI Film Festival and will be released on November 10th, 2022.
I saw Is That Black Enough for You?!? at the 2022 AFI Film Festival with a post-Q&A with director Elvis Mitchell. Is the movie worth checking out? Let’s dive in.
Elvis Mitchell is a film critic, radio show host, and film producer with a huge passion for film. Now he can add film director to that list of titles with the release of this documentary. Is That Black Enough for You?! was first supposed to be a book, but no one would give Mitchell a chance to write it. So then Mitchell decided he would make it a documentary. However, it took the support of several big names (David Fincher and Steven Soderbergh) and a streaming platform willing to give him a shot, and he finally got it made.
The film highlights The History of Black Cinema, which focuses on the 70s with candid interviews with pivotal players from that era. The people you see throughout this documentary are Suzanne De Passe, Laurence Fishburne, Whoopi Goldberg, Zendaya, and Harry Belafonte. It’s the type of documentary that reminds you that we don’t know the whole story.
There are so many fascinating things about this documentary that when you watch it, it feels like you are in a class learning all over again. At the time, releasing a soundtrack ahead of a film’s release was unheard of. However, people within the world of Black cinema were the driving force behind the movement, which led to more intrigue surrounding the film before it was released. Sure, it might be something I “should” know, but I didn’t, and now that I do, I hope more and more people realize stuff like this.
One of my favorite parts of this documentary was listening to Harry Belafonte talk about his career. He never wavered on the type of roles that he wanted to play. Belafonte refused to give in because of what the studios wanted, which was heroic because he could’ve never worked again. Later you listened to Belafonte kind of criticize Sidney Poitier for taking on some of the roles he refused. However, in a post-screening Q&A, director Elvis Mitchell talked about how those movies would’ve never been made if he didn’t take the roles. So to understand that Poitier sacrificed so much of himself to give a platform to generations of Black actors for years to come was impactful.
Documentary filmmakers often struggle with piecing together things that keep them focused on the task. Still, Mitchell, a film lover, brilliantly lets the story be told through the eyes of the people who lived it. He not only made this an understanding of the history of Black cinema but cinema as a collective whole. Also, the editing duo of Michael Engelken and Doyle Esch deserve so much credit for their work on the film.
Overall, Is That Black Enough for You?!? is something that should be viewed by anyone that loves film. You show up to understand the history of Black cinema. But stay for the stories told by the men and women who lived it—a brilliant can’t-miss documentary.
What did you think of the Netflix documentary film Is That Black Enough for You?!? Comment below.
