black film.
monthly watchlist; picks from alexa recommends
Items in this hypelist
Movies
Soul Food
George Tillman Jr. · 1997
Traditional Sunday dinners at Mama Joe's (Irma P. Hall) turn sour when sisters Teri (Vanessa L. Williams), Bird (Nia Long) and Maxine (Vivica A. Fox) start bringing their problems to the dinner table in this ensemble comedy. When tragedy strikes, it's up to grandson Ahmad (Brandon Hammond) to pull the family together and put the soul back into the family's weekly gatherings.
What's Love Got to Do with It
Brian Gibson · 1993
Singer Tina Turner rises to stardom while mustering the courage to break free from her abusive husband Ike.
Why Do Fools Fall In Love
Gregory Nava · 1998
In the mid-80s, three women (each with an attorney) arrive at the office of New York entertainment manager, Morris Levy. One is an L.A. singer, formerly of the Platters; one is a petty thief from Philly; one teaches school in a small Georgia town. Each claims to be the widow of long-dead doo-wop singer-songwriter Frankie Lyman, and each wants years of royalties due to his estate, money Levy has never shared. During an ensuing civil trial, flashbacks tell the story of each one's life with Lyman, a boyish, high-pitched, dynamic performer, lost to heroin. Slowly, the three wives establish their own bond.
For Colored Girls
Tyler Perry · 2010
About existence from the perspective of 20 nameless black females. Each of the women portray one of the characters represented in the collection of twenty poems, revealing different issues that impact women in general and women of color in particular.
Why Did I Get Married?
Tyler Perry · 2007
Eight married college friends plus one other non-friend (all of whom have achieved middle to upper class economic status) go to Colorado for their annual week-long reunion, but the mood shifts when one couple's infidelity comes to light. As secrets are revealed, each couple begins to question their own relationship.
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Darren Grant · 2005
Charles, an attorney, and Helen, his devoted wife, seem to have everything – money, a beautiful mansion – the American Dream. However, as Helen prepares to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary, her life takes an unexpected twist when she comes home to find her clothes packed up in a U-Haul van parked in the driveway. Charles is divorcing her and kicks her out. Helen moves in with her grandmother Madea, an old woman who doesn't take any lip from anyone. Madea helps Helen through these tough times by showing her what is really important in life. Helen is forced to rediscover love, life, and religion in her pursuit for happiness.
Baby Boy
John Singleton · 2001
The story of Jody, a misguided, 20-year-old African-American who is really just a baby boy finally forced-kicking and screaming to face the commitments of real life. Streetwise and jobless, he has not only fathered two children by two different women-Yvette and Peanut but still lives with his own mother. He can't seem to strike a balance or find direction in his chaotic life.
Straight Outta Compton
F. Gary Gray · 2015
In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.
Friday
F. Gary Gray · 1995
Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.
Coming to America
John Landis · 1988
An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.
Just Wright
Sanaa Hamri · 2010
Physical therapist Leslie Wright lands the dream job of working with basketball superstar Scott McKnight, helping him recover from a career-threatening injury. All goes well and soon Leslie finds herself falling in love with him. Just as their friendship deepens, however, Scott focuses his attention back on his tenuous relationship with his ex-fiancé Morgan, Leslie's gorgeous godsister, who would love to be the basketball player's trophy wife.
Beauty Shop
Bille Woodruff · 2005
Far from Chicago, hairdresser Gina Norris has relocated to Atlanta with her daughter and has quickly established herself as a rare talent in her profession. But after repeatedly butting heads with her shady, over-the-top boss, Jorge, Norris sets out to create her own salon -- even snagging a few of Jorge's employees and clients. Now, Jorge will do anything to shut her down.
Chameleon Street
Wendell B. Harris Jr. · 1991
William Douglas Street is bored with his life. Working for his father is getting to him, his wife wants more money, and he's had enough. His solution is to re-invent himself. He becomes a chameleon, taking on whatever role suits the situation. From reporter to doctor to lawyer, he impersonates anyone he feels a need to be and he can earn money being.
To Sleep with Anger
Charles Burnett · 1990
An enigmatic drifter from the South comes to visit an old acquaintance who now lives in South-Central LA.
Daughters of the Dust
Julie Dash · 1991
In 1902, an African-American family living on a sea island off the coast of South Carolina prepares to move to the North.
Eve's Bayou
Kasi Lemmons · 1997
Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.
Devil in a Blue Dress
Carl Franklin · 1995
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Colin in Black and White
Ava DuVernay, Michael Starrbury · 2021
The life of athlete Colin Kaepernick and his adoptive parents as they navigate the challenges of raising a black son in a white family and community.
Entergalactic
Fletcher Moules · 2022
Ambitious artist Jabari attempts to balance success and love when he moves into his dream Manhattan apartment and falls for his next-door neighbor.
Moonlight
Barry Jenkins · 2016
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
Set It Off
F. Gary Gray · 1996
Four inner-city Black women, determined to end their constant struggle, decide to live by one rule — get what you want or die trying. So the four women take back their lives and take out some banks in the process.
Girlfriends
Mara Brock Akil · 2000
The series revolves around the friendship of four African-American women in different phases of their lives. They explore the many trials and tribulations that most women face today such as relationships, family, friends and other current issues that will interest most women. Whether it’s getting over a divorce, finding a career, or looking for true love, Girlfriends delivers along with comedy and wit.
Kirikou and the Sorceress
Michel Ocelot · 1998
Drawn from elements of West African folk tales, it depicts how a newborn boy, Kirikou, saves his village from the evil witch Karaba.
Judas and the Black Messiah
Shaka King · 2021
Bill O'Neal infiltrates the Black Panthers on the orders of FBI Agent Mitchell and J. Edgar Hoover. As Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton ascends—falling for a fellow revolutionary en route—a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul.
Living Single
Yvette Lee Bowser · 1993
Living Single is an American television sitcom that aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who share personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone. Throughout its run, Living Single became one of the most popular African-American sitcoms of its era, ranking among the top five in African-American ratings in all five seasons. The series was produced by Yvette Lee Bowser's company, Sister Lee, in association with Warner Bros. Television. In contrast to the popularity of NBC's "Must See TV" on Thursday nights in the 1990s, many African American and Latino viewers flocked to Fox's Thursday night line-up of Martin, Living Single, and New York Undercover. In fact, these were the three highest-rated series among black households for the 1996–1997 season.
A Different World
Bill Cosby · 1987
A Different World is a spin-off series from The Cosby Show and originally centered on Denise Huxtable and the life of students at Hillman College, a fictional mixed but historically black college in the state of Virginia. After Bonet's departure in the first season, the remainder of the series primarily focused more on Southern belle Whitley Gilbert and mathematics whiz Dwayne Wayne. The series frequently depicted members of the major historically black fraternities and sororities.
Creed
Ryan Coogler · 2015
Adonis Johnson n’a jamais connu son père, le célèbre champion du monde poids lourd Apollo Creed, décédé avant sa naissance. Malgré tout, il a de toute évidence la boxe dans le sang et il se rend donc à Philadelphie, là même où Apollo Creed a affronté un adversaire ambitieux, Rocky Balboa, lors d’un match mémorable. Une fois sur place, Adonis parvient à retrouver la trace de Rocky et lui demande de devenir son entraîneur. Tout en lui expliquant qu’il n’est plus dans la course depuis longtemps, Rocky décèle chez Adonis la force et la détermination qui animaient Apollo, ce redoutable rival devenu son meilleur ami. Rocky finit par accepter d’entraîner le jeune boxeur, alors même que l’ancien champion doit affronter un adversaire bien plus terrible que tous ceux qu’il a combattus sur le ring. Grâce à Rocky, Adonis ne tarde pas à tenter de remporter le titre… Mais sera‐t‐il à même d’acquérir l’énergie et le courage nécessaires pour tout vrai boxeur qui veut monter sur le ring?
Flight of the Swan
Ngozi Onwurah · 1992
A young girl leaves her Nigerian village to attend a ballet school in England. Fascinated by Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, she dreams of performing as lead ballerina Princess Odette, but the girls in her close-minded ballet school mock her ideas of a 'black swan'.
Sorry to Bother You
Boots Riley · 2018
In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success – which propels him into a macabre universe.
If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins · 2018
After her fiance is falsely imprisoned, a pregnant African-American woman sets out to clear his name and prove his innocence.
Vampira
Joey Romero · 1994
Cara is on a mission to break the curse that has haunted her family for generations. During her efforts to break the curse and save her family, Cara falls in love.
BlacKkKlansman
Spike Lee · 2018
Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.
Hotel Rwanda
Terry George · 2004
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen · 2013
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.
