Having thoroughly skewered contemporary life in hisDear White Peoplefranchise, Justin Simien is ready to go back in time.
Its 1989 in Los Angeles, and things are changing fast.
Culture, a music-video TV connection geared toward black audiences, is retooling.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
People lose their jobs.
Producers shift in focus.
The expectations, built by larger (white) economic structures, are brutal: assimilate or leave.
Theres only one thing shes missing.
You sense Simiens pushing into uncharted territory.
This both stalls the momentum and undermines Simiens feel for cutting satire and crackling dialogue.
Or maybe, you wish Simien would just stay on his star and let her do her thing.
Her face alone could carry this movie its that expressive, that connective.
But in trying to do so much more,Bad Hairends up delivering a little less.B-
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