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Film: The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster
Year: 2023
Director: Bomani J. Story
Writer: Bomani J. Story
Starring: Laya DeLeon Hayes, Denzel Whitaker and Chad L. Coleman
Review:
Now this is a movie that I wanted to see at the Gateway Film Center, but just couldn’t make the show times work with life. The title was a bit outrageous and from the bit of the trailer I saw, I had a feeling this was going to be a take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. What also intrigued me was that this was centered around a Black cast, so I wanted to see what they’d do with this classic monster. I have also given this a rewatch to see where I sit for my end of year list.
Synopsis: Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes) is a brilliant teenager who believes death is a disease that can be cured. After the brutal murder of her brother, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life.
This starts in an interesting way. We get voiceover narration to fill us in on why Vicaria is obsessed with curing death. Since she believes it is a disease, it therefore should have a cure. Her mother died while holding her when she was eight. She heard her mother’s heart stop beating. There is more tragedy as her brother, Chris (Edem Atsu-Swanzy), joined a gang and recently was killed. This has shaken her father, Donald (Chad L. Coleman). It also affects V in a different way.
Giving more information here, Donald is a mechanic and doing what he can to get him along with his daughter by. This means working long hours. V goes to a different school than those she lives around as she is gifted. This also causes people around her to look down on her. Aisha (Reilly Brooke Stith) lives nearby and she is pregnant with Chris’ child. She also has a little sister, Jada (Amani Summer) who calls V by a new nickname of mad scientist since this is her best subject. It also seems there is a body snatcher operating in the area. The police don’t care too much about solving this case, but Donald is struggling as they didn’t have a funeral for Chris. His body is missing.
That reason is closer to home. V took the body and is keeping it in a nearby abandoned garage. This isn’t the only one she’s taken as death is common for this area. She has equipment set up for an experiment. She also has journals of notes she’s taken to prove her theory about death. It is this theory that causes her to have a run in with a teacher, Mrs. Kempe (Beth Felice). Despite being called in, Donald sides with his daughter in front of the teacher. He also wants her to graduate so getting her head back into school and not skipping class if what he asks.
Complicating this even more is the gang that Chris was a part of. Kango (Denzel Whitaker) and his crew deals drugs in the area. He works with Jamaal (Keith Holiday) who seems like the muscle to me. He carries around a wicked machete. There is also Curtis (Jeremy DeCarlos) who is a member as well.
V tries to bring Chris back and she succeeds. She doesn’t necessarily get the results she expected though. Chris has a deep voice that doesn’t sound human. He is also super strong and violent. He doesn’t discriminate who he takes out if they upset him. This includes the police or gangsters from the area. Kango and Jamaal want to find this monster and punish him for what happened to one of their own. The police also don’t like the fact that they’re being targeted by this individual, so they are finally roaming the area, looking for this monster.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start then is to point out the parallels from this to the ‘source’. This is a good adaptation for the fact that Bomani J Story, who wrote and directed, took elements while doing his own thing. Having V want to find a way to cure death is like that of Victor. His mother passed away and I believe his brother did as well. That explains both him and V going down this path. I mean their names have similarities. It is alluded to with the parent/teacher conference that their last name is Frankenstein, it just isn’t explicated stated. Being questioned by a teacher is another. Victor was a good student, but like other geniuses, struggled to follow the curriculum and following the status quo. V’s notebook bears ‘Modern Prometheus’, electricity bringing the monster to life and it learning to speak. Also, the monster being sympathetic and uncontrollable. I liked using all these elements.
Let me then go to differences here. Having Black characters in all the key roles is one. I appreciated that to be honest. V is intelligent. She is willing to have a conversation, but the system is keeping her in her place. I don’t necessarily mean due to her race. The public school system is what I mean there. Wanting to ensure the younger generation knows, Aisha and Jada point out important Black people in the sciences. We also get to see the way of life in this area. There are going to be people who see all this and think that it is being played up. I disagree. What I like is showing that there are naturally brilliant minds living underprivileged. They don’t always naturally get out. This is commentary I love to see but is also heartbreaking when thinking about the real world. It is also sad with a subplot with Donald. He turns to drugs to cope and that is a real issue, especially in the area that he lives. I can appreciate what this is saying.
I then want to go deeper into looking at Chris as the creature. What I like is that he was naturally big. Just looking at Donald, who is his father, it makes sense with Coleman being a good size. Credit to Atsu-Swanzy for sure. His size makes the creature scary. They also do good with the sound design. There is heavy footsteps, which makes him sound even scarier. His voice is deep and menacing. It has me curious now to know how much of that is him and distorted for the movie. I could also believe that he could do the damage that he does. He doesn’t have that conscious part of his mind to stop. Coupling that with his size, it is plausible. I do also like that they show that he has good in him. He is misunderstood and a monster with the mind of a child that was just born. He tries to protect himself.
That should be enough for the story so then over to the acting. I’ve already said what I need to for Atsu-Swanzy. The strongest performer is Hayes. I love how intelligent she is and convinced that she can do anything. It is great when she gets in over her head as that fits with narrative is borrows from. I feel horrible for the area she lives. That goes for all the characters. Whitaker is good along with Holliday, DeCarlos and the rest of the gang members. I like the fear that comes with their presence. Coleman is good as this father that is at the end of his rope. He is doing what he can for V, but it is too much at times. Stith and Summer are interesting for the development of the area and culture. The acting was good across the board, no issues there.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I love how this is shot. There are sequences and other things that just look great. I love what they do when the experiment is going on as well. This has an arthouse vibe with cinematography for sure. The effects were also good. This is mostly practical from what I could tell. I knew early there were flies that weren’t. I’d also bet the electricity was made with computers. No issues with this latter part. The attacks by the creature are brutal. I appreciated that. Other than that, the sound design adds atmosphere while the music worked for what was needed.
In conclusion, I can see people out there hating this due to it having too heavy of a message. Personally, the different take on the Frankenstein narrative was good. I like this promising young scientific mind in V dabbling with things greater than her. The acting is good. This is well-made. The cinematography, practical effects and sound design lead there. Just slight issues with effects. Again, I can see the message coming on too strong for viewers. I do think it can be looked past and just acknowledge this is the plight for people. I’d recommend giving this a viewing if you like these narratives. It also stayed close in score for me since this second watch didn’t hurt what I thought originally.
My Rating: 8 out of 10