This Valentine’s weekend was made more perfect by the release of a true LOVE STORY!! The hot and talented lovers Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield gave Cupid that help he has desperately been needed to have people believe in LOVE again. It centers on a love story between two wrapped up by at least 2 other love stories that make the one LOVE possible. LaKeith Stanfield is Mike, a New York journalist working for The Republic, an online publication that give him the freedom, resources and support he needs to meander his way through stories until his writer’s soul is content. Issa Rae is Mae, a curator at the Queens Museum who’s still reeling from her mother’s death from cancer, unpacking her mother’s past which was signed sealed and discovered. It was in search of the story that the two would end up on their first date. After the awkwardness that first dates usually bring they talk music — not jazz, though I have to believe Dizzy Gillepsie and Theolonius Monk are somewhere beaming with pride that Robert Glasper infused jazz throughout this movie. Though no rap is found in the movie it was the discussion point that would ignite a friendly banter with a strong enough connection to make the relationship spark. He jams to Kendrick Lamar, she is a Drake fan and admits that it’s not Kendrick’s music she doesn’t like yet it’s the bar his lyrics set.
The Photograph was like a piece of dark chocolate on a Sunday afternoon. It was the exact opposite of the typical Love Story portrayed on the big screen for Black Women. It was calm, not overly dramatic and didn’t set pain, struggle or the typical “fight for love” narrative as the standard for BLACK LOVE. It was not tragic, nor was it set up on a foundation of panic and fear of sudden loss. In this movie LOVE was a gift not a reward!
Mike & Mae’s date would be the vehicle that would take us on a journey into the intricacies and the impact on relationships with love lost, love feared, love desired and steady love all side by side. Funny, this is how LOVE and relationships unfolds in real life. The movie captured the everyday decisions, choices and challenges that that are made that can make or break love connections and the potential impact that it will have for generations to come.
Suprisingly it offered up the tension and made you appreciate what ambitious women in the 20th Century had to contend with when presented with the option to go for your dreams or go for love. Just a generation ago it was a very hard choice, and be clear you had to choose. Yet in the 21st Century the choice is no less difficult but now the option of BOTH is visible for Powerhouse Women. It will take a little bit of work, a whole lot of faith and the willingness to be vulnerable yet you can have LOVE and a great LOVER to share it with.
The movie requires a lot from the audience. First you have to recalibrate your expectations of a love story, you need to identify the climax that is most powerful for you. As the movie provides a variety of Love Stages that the audience can either identify with or dismiss as interesting. Depending on where one is in their own love journey they will either like or loathe the film. It offers no answers yet it reveals what you believe is realistic, possible or even relevant when it comes to LOVE.
What does a picture perfect LOVE look like for YOU?
If you are ready to have the LOVE you see for yourself then I invite you to check out LIT…just click here to learn more.
