While I was seeking out projects featuring D.B. Woodside, I found this little-known TV film which was produced by independent RLJ Entertainment for its Urban Movie Channel (UMC) (before RLJ was acquired by AMC). UMC includes original TV series and movies and when I saw that this was a TV movie, I thought it was going to be a made-for-TV movie (shot on film with a low budget for a TV audience). However, when the movie began, it was immediately apparent from the image lag on the video that this movie was shot using old-style TV video. It was also shot live using a 3 or 4 camera setup on a single set, like a soap opera. Now I remember why I stopped watching scripted TV.
These types of productions have a unique personality. The acting is done in stage-acting style and this production appeared to have a live audience. There weren't multiple, separate takes for each shot -- it was just continuously shot and acted like a stage play. This can be demanding on the players because they need to remember and recall all of their lines and stage directions flawlessly for the entire scene. The result is a much lower quality performance and this movie was no exception in that regard. The advantage of shooting this way is much lower production costs and no continuity errors, and this movie had none that I could see. This film was shot entirely on that one set with what looked like stock footage between the acts for transition and establishing shots.
The story follows the lives of the three main characters, the sisters, as they deal with their relationships and careers, often having difficult choices to make in the process. The tension comes from the choices the characters must make among career options and sometimes having to choose between their dream job or their romantic partner. The characters are strongly defined, but the dialogue is written in a blunt, direct style common to TV scripts. In this film, the players would simply directly convey the message the writer wanted to deliver. Exposition was likewise very direct rather than coming across more naturally -- typical of TV scripts.
With regard to race, the entire cast was played by black actors and it appears that all of the above-the-line folks were also black people and of course, being made for UMC, the expected audience was black viewers. There didn't appear to be any derision or negative depictions or stereotypes in the movie, which often happens in major studio films. When the content came close to touching on such issues, the characters would directly and expressly discuss the topic to quench any possible negative interpretations. Most of the characters were of the suburban, middle-to-upper income demographic with generally high socioeconomic occupations and education. The characters used correct grammar and pronunciation for the most part, but as time went on and the players became more relaxed in their roles they occasionally slipped up and used "axe" instead of "ask" or dropped the "are" after a pronoun, but that was rare and I'm sure the intent of the writer/director was to avoid substandard grammar/pronunciation in the dialogue.
Overall, if you like stories about the problems that women often encounter in their lives and careers; and you don't really care about things like cinematography, tight dialogue or flawless acting then this TV-quality production might be for you. It's not my thing so I would have likely given it a rating of 4 or 5, but because it contained no racially derisive content, I'm giving it rating of 6.
Advisories: none; suitable for all audiences.
Rating: 6/10; submitted 9/12/20, 22:25 EDT
