The Obituary of Tunde Johnson

I've seen a lot of "groundhog" day movies. Some I really liked, some not and some of them I just liked the first time. Most of them were funny and I surely mourned the dead.

But I was never so attached. I've never been as distressed and sad about every single dead and I've never been so scarred for the upcoming even I knew it comes.

I'm shocked and I'm so so sorry.

This timely film courageously addresses multiple issues: racial profiling, homophobia, police brutality, drug addiction, mental health and more. The 'time loop' structure can seem tiresome after awhile, however, each time we come back to a familiar scene it is presented in a refreshing way. I highly recommend this film!

Whatever the director was thinking, it stayed in his head. For the rest of us, we watch a movie that flashes with greatness, shows potential, and leaves us with Meh, whatever.

I enjoyed most of the story, sometimes the main character is a bit frustrating not to learn from his situation, but your drawn into his life and looking at possibilities. Then the director wants to end it all artsy and you're left with "that's it?".

Firstly, I'm dedicated to writing honest and thoughtful reviews in full english words without all caps, exclamation points and other useless shapes. Secondly, I gave this movie a 6 because the atypical character perspective puts well known topics in review from layers that are unique and worthy of discussion. However, the execution can use some work. I didn't find too much character development to understand why they behaved the way they did or why I should ultimately care about it. With such a strong opening scene, I became invested in the character but then quickly lost him to a lot of general subject matter. The secondary characters were also so one dimensional and lost in "subjects" that it almost made the topics unserious.

I would recommend this movie for mature audiences that are curious about a unique take on a pervasive subject matter - but I would not make it movie night material due to lack of coherent character and story development.

I normally don't write reviews, but after watching this one I felt like I needed too. To begin, this movie was very well done from the soundtrack to the shooting of the many different prospectives that revolved around the same scene. The actor Steven Sliver does an amazing job playing tunde, being black in America can be a horrific and an anxiety filled mess. I know from personal experience. That fact that he plays a gay man further brings it home for me. I felt every interaction. His co stars Spencer Neville and Nicola Peltz really make a well rounded cast each actor providing a different layer to the story that is very well woven into the experience. If your reading this review, give the movie a chance to speak to you, it gives an unbiased perspective, that is not easy to forget.