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Film Sun Nov 21 2010
The Tofu Chitlin Circuit: For Colored Girls
Over the years, filmmaker and director Tyler Perry has received the brunt of harsh criticism for both his television shows and films; however, none of his work has been critiqued and analyzed as intensely as his latest film, For Colored Girls.
For Colored Girls, Perry's big screen adaptation of author Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, has been the subject of intense discussion among the film and entertainment world. Numerous websites, including Shadow and Act, a blog dedicated to "cinema of the African Diaspora," have featured a number of entries about the film.
And what is perhaps most notable of all the scrutiny is that Oprah didn't promote the film on her show, especially since she is a close friend of Perry's.
Hmmm...
Despite the all-star cast, including Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg, many questions surround For Colored Girls, ranging from its depiction of African-Americans, specifically African-American men, to those who question whether Perry even has the adequate filmmaking chops to tackle a literary work as revered as Shange's.
To get to the bottom of this film's controversy, the theatre conservatory The Tofu Chitlin Circuit, as part of its monthly "A La Carte" series, will discuss For Colored Girls, on Tuesday, Nov. 30, at the Digital Youth Network, 1050 E. 47th St., from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. The panelists include the Black Ensemble Theater's Jackie Taylor, filmmaker Barbara Allen (PBS documentary, "From DuSable to Obama: Chicago's Black Metropolis") and Ebonyjet.com film critic Sergio Mims. Admission is $5. Call 773-787-6800 for more information.
