For Colored Girls

I watched the Spurs kick ass and take names last night (just to redeem themselves from the previous game's loss) and then I went to Movies On Demand.  I was all set to watch Red with Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, and Helen Mirren and then I saw the little promo for For Colored Girls.  So I chose that one.

Have you seen this little gem?  O. M. G.  What a fabulous, sad, wonderful, depressing, uplifting,  gritty, and gorgeous movie.  I could not believe it was made by Tyler Perry.  Some of the diaglogue was so riveting I could hardly contain myself from rewinding and watching it over and over again.

So today I got up and looked up what I could about it.  It was originally 20 poems by Ntozake Shange that was made into a play back in the 1970s.  The play was entitled For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf.

The movie has a cast that you can't believe.  Fabulous women!

I would love to say here that Whoopi Goldberg stole the show, or that one of my favorite actresses Loretta Devine was the star, but no.  This is an ensemble cast and they all fit together to lift up the sum of their parts to an even higher level.  It was so good.

And Macy Gray has a small but unforgettable role that will make you squirm.  Yes, there are men in this movie.  And it is to the credit of these talented actors that they can play their roles so well that they let the women shine through.

I am going to go read the obits as I normally do, and then since I have paid for this movie for 24 hours, I am going to watch it again.  which I never do.  It is that good.  Then I am going on Amazon to find a book of Shange's poetry that contains these 20 poems and I will be up tonight devouring them.

I don't know why this was not a huge success at the box office.  Maybe the subject matter was too in-your-face?  Maybe because they didn't know this is as far from Madea as Tyler Perry could get?  But I promise you, this is a movie you should watch.