Driving While Black, 2018.
Directed by Paul Sapiano.
Starring Dominique Purdy, Sheila Tejada, John Mead, and Julian Bane.
SYNOPSIS:
Dimitri delivers pizzas for a living – but as a young black man, he is faced with “extra” challenges while navigating the city.
It’s certainly attention-grabbing that Driving While Black was written by Dominique Purdy (along with the self-proclaimed dark comedy’s director Paul Sapiano) accounting for real-life occurrences, but also the rarity of actual advice from the Sheriff’s Department (presumably of Los Angeles where the movie is set). Reason being is that, unfortunately, much of the experience and observations feel too on-the-nose; nothing is said that audiences don’t already know. Furthermore, what is here is sometimes either greatly exaggerated to an off-putting degree or presented in cringe-inducing fashion. Detroit this is not.
Driving While Black opens with a nightmare sequence involving police officers pulling over African-Americans for little to no reason (this part isn’t a stretch at all) and then quickly jumps the gun by weirdly implementing demonically distorted voices for the cops, subsequently introducing a few more cops ridiculously openly sporting Ku Klux Klan masks. It’s a beginning so far out of reach from reality that once our down-on-his-luck struggling artist and pizza delivery young adult Dimitri wakes from his slumber, there’s the need to let out a deep sigh of relief and give the movie a second chance. From there, I wish I could say the film finds its footing as the comedically grounded social commentary it announces itself as aspiring to be, but instead, it just jumps into more situations of racist officers wrongfully messing with blacks (typically in flashback form as a half-baked method to display why Dimitri and so many others of his race are mentally equipped with such a confrontational attitude towards persons of authority).
Paramount to why this never really engages is due to the fact that most, if not all of the characters, including Dimitri, are paper-thin caricatures with little reason to cheer them on or in the case of prejudiced law enforcers, actively root against. The only difference any of them have is a name; good luck trying to keep track of who is who. Furthermore, that leads to another gripe; we all know that there are a number of dirtbag cops deserving of being booted off the force still patrolling the streets, but does anyone really believe that every single member is a terrible waste of space? Admittedly, Driving While Black does attempt to address this flaw by including a few minorities among the officers (leading to the film’s best scenes), but also more heavy-handed preaching on current events and how many groups conduct their investigations.
Dimitri himself is also not a very well-developed character, but we care for his plight based on sympathy alone. Following some vehicle troubles, he finds himself killing some time by partaking in a tour of Hollywood’s various celebrity-owned luxurious houses where his knack for cracking jokes about both the aforementioned celebrities and the Indian driver of the tour result in him being offered a job taking citizens on the tour. It also helps that he bears a striking resemblance to Dave Chappelle (something that is commonly brought attention to by characters throughout the movie). At one point it’s joked that he should be hired and billed as Dave Chappelle’s cousin. Honestly, all the Dave Chappelle similarity recognitions just made me wish he was the one writing and starring in this race relations blunder. Continuing along with how fake and unearned every major plot but feels, it’s eye-rollingly bad watching different types of minorities amateurishly realize that they have more in common than they thought. Slightly less frustrating but bothersome is how little Dimitri’s relationship with his girlfriend and mom are explored. His supportive lover exists as motivation for him to seek out a job in a few scenes and that’s it.
There are a few moments throughout the ordeal where the happenings do feel authentic and realistic, but they are far and few between, and also disconnected from anything remotely captivating regarding the overall story. Also, let’s be honest, it’s not exactly hard to make racist white cops easy to loathe. I truly do admire what Driving While Black went for, but for most of its running time I wanted to be in the back seat asleep.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, friend me on Facebook, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, check out my personal non-Flickering Myth affiliated Patreon, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
Originally published December 29, 2017. Updated April 11, 2018.
