Retro Review: Love Jones

When Larenz Tate stood up at the BET Awards and started reciting those words to Nia Long, he had everyone oohing and aahing - including myself. Love Jones dropped in 1997 when the poetry scene was buzzing and when the spoken word was the new green, red, gold and Black. Over here in London there were numerous poetry events popping up all over the city. The movie is a simple tale of boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl and then gets her back. However it is the way the story is told that makes it so damm good. Also it was released when a lot of gangster films were released such as Menance II Society and Dead Presidents  where ironically Larenz first got his claim to fame, so Love Jones was extremely refreshing to the eyes. Nina Mosley played by Nia Long is a photographer nursing a broken heart so she flees New York and heads to Chicago to start a new life. She bumps into Darius Lovehall played by Larenz Tate, an aspiring writer at a Poetry Jam and sparks fly. They start to date and fall for each other but both party are unnerved by the intensity of the relationship. Nina because she is still not quite over her ex and Darius because he not sure if he is ready to settle down.

Love Jones was a pioneer because prior to that you never saw a Black couple in a romantic relationship on the big screen (you can read a previous blog post that I wrote about Black relationships here). The film paved the way for other African American romances like Brown Sugar. Love and Basketball and Disappearing Acts From the research that I have done it is apparent that Love Jones is regarded as a classic in Black films and has been described as a shinning example of how a love story should be; realistic with real characters in real situations. More importantly it was at the time and to a certain extent still is a film that shows Black people as they really are: intelligent, cultural, creative and just as keen to find the one as anyone else. It is hard to believe that it was made 13 years ago because it just seems so current. Nia and Larenz have so much chemistry and I couldn't believe it when I heard that she is five years older than him. It took me a while to appreciate the contribution that Love Jones has made to Black cinema - it helped to popularise poetry and gave everyone an insight into the cultural scene of Chicago.

Black Love

Images of Black couples in the media has always been a turbulent one and more often than not it has often been negative. The relationship between Black men and women have historically been depicted as dysfunctional, unhealthy and sometime violent. When I was younger I used to wince when a Black couple came onto the big or small screen as I could tell that something horrible was going to happen. A lot of the depiction was down to racism and deep ignorance as well as an imbalance in the number of people of colour who are in production positions in film and TV. The 70s had a few gems in the shape of Lady Sings the Blues in which Diana Ross played jazz singer, Billie Holiday. The story demonstrated how Billie's life was marred by her drug addiction but what was poignant about the film were the loving scenes between Billie and her husband, Louis who was played by Billy Dee Williams. The Cosby Show carried the baton next with the tales of Cliff and Clair Huxtable and their five lively children. Cliff played by the legendary, Bill Cosby absolutely doted on Clair and was not ashamed to show it. Where The Cosby Show left off the films in the 90s and naughties took up and we saw films like Love Jones, Brown Sugar, Love and Basketball representing Black love in a realistic way. Just like any other the couples in these films had their ups and downs but they were treated in a respectful and positive way. Now we see Black love represented in the tallest order. The new President of the United States and his First Lady are a loving couple who have caught the imagination of the world. He the powerful orator who instill passion and pride in his countryman and she the tall elegant figure who is the backbone in the partnership. Together with their two daughters they will be the most glamorous family to enter the White House since JFK and his family swept everyone off their feet in 1960. So it was of great pleasure to me to see the image of Barack kissing his wife tenderly after he had won the presidential campaign plastered all over the media. Talk about full circle. Here's to you Barack and Michelle. Yes We Can!!!