As Black movies go, Preacher’s Kid is a refreshing change of pace — a contemporary parable that presents a balanced portrayal of African American manhood and an authentic view of Black church life that confronts the stereotypes head-on. PLUS: Find out how to receive a FREE copy of the DVD.
The movie begins with a church scene — a pastor who can whoop, church mothers wearing elaborate hats, and a gospel choir that can sho’nuff saaang.
The lead character is the pastor’s daughter, a soloist in the church choir whose voice is soulfully angelic. Only problem is that the good girl likes devilish guys. So she spurns the good guy on the way to finding her dream love. Or so she thought.
Church girl meets bad boy, bad boy physically abuses church girl and church girl nearly loses her soul. Bad boy is, of course, handsome, muscular and dark complexioned. Church girl is, of course, pretty with “good hair” and light skin. And yes, there’s a heavyset Black man dressed as a “big momma” wearing a gray wig who, with left hand on his hip, dangles a gun in his right hand like a chicken leg.
It might sound like a typical Black film or play on the Chitlin’ Circuit, but Preacher’s Kid, written and directed by Hollywood actor and producer, Stan Foster, is actually a refreshing and even inspiring take on the genre.
Foster screened Preacher’s Kid last month at Regent University’s School of Communication and Arts in Virginia Beach. The movie stars LeToya Luckett (Angie), former member of the R&B group Destiny’s Child, and R&B artist Durrell “Tank” Babbs (Devlin).
Preacher’s Kid, which opened in theaters this past weekend, is about a 20-something church girl who grows bored with the routine of worship services and looking after her widowed father. Angie wants to explore the world and follow her dream to be a star, so she runs off and tours with a gospel play. Along the way, she gets severely burned by Devlin. Eventually she comes to her senses, gaining a greater appreciation for what she has at home. It’s the modern female version of the parable of the Prodigal Son.
As the Regent audience yelled, “Lord, don’t do it,” and “Girl, don’t believe him” at the screen, I watched Foster sitting in the front row. He was fixed on the screen, seemingly studying every frame.
“Every time I watch it, I’m thinking about what I could’ve done differently,” Foster told me afterward. “I’m wondering if the audience is catching some flaws.”
Only Foster saw the flaws. The audience loved the film.
Black films tend to follow stereotypical formulas. Foster, who began his unconventional career (he didn’t attend acting or film school) in the 1980s as an actor in the Emmy-winning CBS television drama Tour of Duty, aims to diversify the mix. Preacher’s Kid, actually criticizes the genre’s flaws. Foster consciously rejects stereotypes such as skin color, where, the lighter women are slim and more lady-like than their darker, heavier and sassier sisters. For example, he originally wrote the lead for darker complexioned R&B singers Fantasia Barrino and then fellow American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson, both of whom had to back out. This opened the way for Luckett’s first acting role. She is wonderful at playing a character that is authentic, like the sister who lives next door or your daughter.
As a Black husband and father, I often find it difficult to watch Black films because of the negative ways men are over portrayed — violent, irresponsible, lazy or absent. Preacher’s Kid enabled me to exhale. In the characters of Bishop King (Gregory Alan Williams), Wynton (Sharif Atkins), and Ike (Clifton Powell) there is a balance of well-rounded Black men who are like most of us in the real world — positive, though flawed. And, unlike typical Hollywood love stories, the hero is not the most handsome guy.
“I intentionally didn’t want a pretty boy to be my good guy,” Foster told me. “Instead, I wanted a guy with a pretty heart.”
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We talk to Blind Side star Quinton Aaron about portraying Michael Oher, losing his real-life mother, his American Idol dream, and the enduring criticism regarding his hit film. PLUS: Leave a comment below for a chance to win 1 of 5 FREE copies of The Blind Side on DVD.
Mo’Nique’s Oscar-winning performance in Precious came from a dark place in her family history. Say what you will about the actress and the movie, her Academy Award victory caps the unlikely rise of a black woman who turned personal tragedy into professional triumph.
Well, Mo’Nique did it.
The movie, Precious, for which she won the Academy Award for supporting actress, may have made us uncomfortable, but doggonit, Mo’Nique did it.
The sadistic way in which she’d make Precious, played by fellow Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe, wait on her like a slave and tell her that she wouldn’t amount anything. The pain and rage in her bloodshot eyes as her chapped lips sipped a cigarette bud revealing yellowed teeth. Mo’Nique, who broke through showbiz as a foul-mouth standup comedian, was absolutely believable as a dramatic actor.
And I’m sure she believed the Oscar would come.
By now you know Precious, based on the novel Push, is about an illiterate teen mom who triumphs after having been abused by just about everyone. She’s ridiculed at school and in her neighborhood. Family life is even worse. Her young child and newborn are from her father, who raped her. Her mother is arguably the most abusive and least sympathetic character in the movie. This is the role Mo’Nique worked into an award-winning performance.
The movie caused a stir, even anger, because it, yet again, put on display a highly dysfunctional black family. Even C. Jeffrey Wright, CEO of UrbanFaith’s parent company, chimed in about what many viewed as the movie’s lopsided portrayal of African American life. During the Oscar Night edition of The Barbara Walters Special, which aired before the 82nd Academy Awards, Mo’Nique addressed this. Abuse is “colorless” and that the actors just happened to be black, she said.
True, abuse and other dysfunctions exist in families of all ethnicities and races, but black dysfunction is too common in movies and throughout the media. This gives the impression that dysfunction is the only state of the black family. I realize family hell sells better at the box office, so I’d settle for more positive black characters in these same movies. Write in a black doctor who has it together, or an honest black business owner.
Truthfully, there are few families that are not dysfunctional and this is what many of us spend our careers — our lives — trying to overcome.
Mo’Nique’s Oscar winning-performance came from a dark place within her family. She was abused as a child. During the Walters interview, Mo’Nique discussed the sexual abuse she endured at the hands of an older brother beginning around age 7. Fear kept her from telling their parents until about age 15. Her brother went on to abuse someone else, and served prison time.
Mo’Nique modeled her Precious character after him. She told Walters that the last time they spoke and were together was as adults while she was in the hospital after birthing twins. Visiting, her brother picked up and held one of the babies in his arms. Bad move. I can only imagine the rage the welled inside Mo’Nique. She wasn’t specific about the encounter, but must’ve torn into him. With therapy, and the help of her husband, Mo’Nique released the burden, she said.
Faith is about believing deeply in what you can’t see despite the reasons to doubt that are before you. You can’t please God without it. As Mo’Nique’s name was announced as the winner, she paused and then stood and composed herself before heading to the stage. In her acceptance speech, she invoked the late Hattie McDaniel, the first black woman to win an Oscar back in 1940, and alluded to the politics that typically go along with being nominated for an Academy Award — politics that Mo’Nique boldly refused to partake in. It was at once clear that this Oscar victory — and her involvement in Precious — was much bigger than just playing a role in a movie. As I watched, I thought about all those rough times she must’ve endured, and perhaps, like Precious, how she might’ve wanted to give up. How Mo’Nique must’ve willed herself to focus not on the immediate trials in her personal life and career, but on the future rewards she envisioned.
You may not like her opinions or lifestyle choices, but Mo’Nique did it. She kept the faith.
“To every last person that celebrates a victory of being abused, and you can stand baby, congratulations,” she said backstage to the thank you cam. “…To the whole world I simply say I thank you and let’s start loving again, unconditionally.”
Now that’s a storyline we ought to be comfortable with.
Here’s an idea for Lent that will do more good than giving up desserts: Read a book about contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. It’s not a penance, though it can hurt. And seeing how much of the rest of the world lives sure does put a lot of our minor irritations, and even major problems, in perspective.
As Black movies go, Preacher’s Kid is a refreshing change of pace — a contemporary parable that presents a balanced portrayal of African American manhood and an authentic view of Black church life that confronts the stereotypes head-on.
The movie begins with a church scene — a pastor who can whoop, church mothers wearing elaborate hats, and a gospel choir that can sho’nuff saaang.
The lead character is the pastor’s daughter, a soloist in the church choir whose voice is soulfully angelic. Only problem is that the good girl likes devilish guys. So she spurns the good guy on the way to finding her dream love. Or so she thought.
Church girl meets bad boy, bad boy physically abuses church girl and church girl nearly loses her soul. Bad boy is, of course, handsome, muscular and dark complexioned. Church girl is, of course, pretty with “good hair” and light skin. And yes, there’s a heavyset Black man dressed as a “big momma” wearing a gray wig who, with left hand on his hip, dangles a gun in his right hand like a chicken leg.
It might sound like a typical Black film or play on the Chitlin’ Circuit, but Preacher’s Kid, written and directed by Hollywood actor and producer, Stan Foster, is actually a refreshing and even inspiring take on the genre.
Foster screened Preacher’s Kid last month at Regent University’s School of Communication and Arts in Virginia Beach. The movie stars LeToya Luckett (Angie), former member of the R&B group Destiny’s Child, and R&B artist Durrell “Tank” Babbs (Devlin).
Preacher’s Kid, which opened in theaters this past weekend, is about a 20-something church girl who grows bored with the routine of worship services and looking after her widowed father. Angie wants to explore the world and follow her dream to be a star, so she runs off and tours with a gospel play. Along the way, she gets severely burned by Devlin. Eventually she comes to her senses, gaining a greater appreciation for what she has at home. It’s the modern female version of the parable of the Prodigal Son.
As the Regent audience yelled, “Lord, don’t do it,” and “Girl, don’t believe him” at the screen, I watched Foster sitting in the front row. He was fixed on the screen, seemingly studying every frame.
“Every time I watch it, I’m thinking about what I could’ve done differently,” Foster told me afterward. “I’m wondering if the audience is catching some flaws.”
Only Foster saw the flaws. The audience loved the film.
Black films tend to follow stereotypical formulas. Foster, who began his unconventional career (he didn’t attend acting or film school) in the 1980s as an actor in the Emmy-winning CBS television drama Tour of Duty, aims to diversify the mix. Preacher’s Kid, actually criticizes the genre’s flaws. Foster consciously rejects stereotypes such as skin color, where, the lighter women are slim and more lady-like than their darker, heavier and sassier sisters. For example, he originally wrote the lead for darker complexioned R&B singers Fantasia Barrino and then fellow American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson, both of whom had to back out. This opened the way for Luckett’s first acting role. She is wonderful at playing a character that is authentic, like the sister who lives next door or your daughter.
As a Black husband and father, I often find it difficult to watch Black films because of the negative ways men are over portrayed — violent, irresponsible, lazy or absent. Preacher’s Kid enabled me to exhale. In the characters of Bishop King (Gregory Alan Williams), Wynton (Sharif Atkins), and Ike (Clifton Powell) there is a balance of well-rounded Black men who are like most of us in the real world — positive, though flawed. And, unlike typical Hollywood love stories, the hero is not the most handsome guy.
“I intentionally didn’t want a pretty boy to be my good guy,” Foster told me. “Instead, I wanted a guy with a pretty heart.”
As Black movies go, Preacher’s Kid is a refreshing change of pace — a contemporary parable that presents a balanced portrayal of African American manhood and an authentic view of Black church life that confronts the stereotypes head-on. PLUS: Find out how to receive a FREE copy of the DVD.
Win a FREE Copy of Preacher’s Kid
We talk to Blind Side star Quinton Aaron about portraying Michael Oher, losing his real-life mother, his American Idol dream, and the enduring criticism regarding his hit film. PLUS: Leave a comment below for a chance to win 1 of 5 FREE copies of The Blind Side on DVD.
Mo’Nique’s Oscar-winning performance in Precious came from a dark place in her family history. Say what you will about the actress and the movie, her Academy Award victory caps the unlikely rise of a black woman who turned personal tragedy into professional triumph.
As Black movies go, Preacher’s Kid is a refreshing change of pace — a contemporary parable that presents a balanced portrayal of African American manhood and an authentic view of Black church life that confronts the stereotypes head-on.