SummaryWhen a grandfather (Kevin Costner) is suddenly left to care for his beloved granddaughter, her paternal grandmother (Octavia Spencer) seeks custody with the help of her brother (Anthony Mackie). With the best intentions at heart, both families fight for what they feel is right and are soon forced to confront their true feelings about ra...
SummaryWhen a grandfather (Kevin Costner) is suddenly left to care for his beloved granddaughter, her paternal grandmother (Octavia Spencer) seeks custody with the help of her brother (Anthony Mackie). With the best intentions at heart, both families fight for what they feel is right and are soon forced to confront their true feelings about ra...
This was one of the best performances from Costner ever. It was a sweet and touching story of grief and the need for forgiveness. Grandma WeWe was awesome!!!! I sure wish these stories could be done without disrespecting the name of Jesus.
There's a chance Black or White just might offend some, but it's more likely to get them thinking and talking. In this day and age, and given recent headlines, it's hard to ask much more from a movie.
The performances are fantastic across the board, with Costner acting in his trademark low-key naturalistic style and Spencer as the picture of no-nonsense maternal love. But their efforts can’t make up for overly simplified characters, not to mention melodramatic exchanges that sound exactly like written dialogue.
Tempting though it might be to celebrate any earnest, good-faith attempt to talk about race in America, it’s clear that the creator of Mind Of The Married Man was not the right one to do the talking.
Black or White may not be racist, exactly, but it patronizes its African-American characters up, down and sideways, and audiences of every ethnicity, background, hue and predilection can find something to dislike.
I can say I really enjoyed this movie immensely, and I might add one of the better Kevin Costner movies he has done since "Dances with Wolves". I also love Octavia Spencer in just about anything she is in, and puts in a great performance as the Grandmother! The dialogue and script in this movie and life lessons should leave us all with something to think about. This movie is so well acted and put together, and reiterates things that having great parents taught me early on in life about family, race, and what is right and wrong. In the end it teaches us all what is most important.
Emotional dispute for an innocent young soul.
One of the beautiful melodrama of the year. It is a partial courtroom drama and it was about a biracial kid, whose grandparents fight to own the custody. Obviously a sensitive matter, but incredibly written screenplay that balanced both the ways. Such kind of theme is always welcomed, but in this case, again, those critics behind ruining the movie. Should have been in the Oscar race in any category, but it didn't. The reason is simple, about famous people and histories always have the edge over the fictional works in the film world.
Child custody battle is a most familiar theme, but not a very common. In this, the characters are so special, made a huge difference with an interesting opening plot. At some point I felt scenes were very intensified and old fashioned, but the story and dialogues were not. Lots of emotional scenes involved right from the first frame itself. Especially one of the courtroom scene in the third act which was a turning point in the story was so touching. The families are definitely going to love that particular part.
"Well, there are certain things a man can do,
certain thing a woman can do."
Top notch performances, especially the Kevin Costner, and Octavia Spencer in some crucial parts. Apart from them it has some cheerful humours. A movie that is not pinpointing the mistakes of the past like some of the recent films depicted, but looking forward to the future and unifying by removing fences. As a living creature, the conflict within is not an invalid, even non-living substances do have when they come together in the form of chemical reaction. So as we're civilised, it must be minimised. Happy or sad ending, it does not matter, because it is simply delivering a message about the difference between good and bad.
The kid was the centre of the story formation, but the screenplay did not designed her to dominate. Because her presence was the vital than to display stunning performance, as it was a conflict between two different racial people. But, how the kid gets affected if the confrontation gets ugly as the story progresses is the point to develop ahead. So that brings the climax, and you should watch the movie to know how it all ends. I would say it is a very underrated movie and needs immediate recognition. It will going to be one of those movies to be praised in the future.
8½/10
The film captures humor, drama and it's sweet and deeply felt from Kevin Coster's performance. Finally the worst month to release films (January) releases an heart felt film. Grade A
I liked it. Kevin Costner was really good, Octavia Spencer was damn good, and the emotional story is the best writing I have seen in 2015. Black And White was a good film, it may not be the best drama out there but it sure makes you cry.
Black or White has good intentions for sure, Kevin Costner gives another winning performance in his recent come back. We do get good supporting work from Anthony Mackie and Mpho Koaho along with some compelling courtroom scenes. However the movie is too sentimental for it's own good, it's too long and gives the most anticlimactic ending to any movie I've seen so far this year. Finally don't even get me started on Octavia Spencer who gives the most over the top performance of her career, she was kind of awful.