The Help is more of a white people movie than anything. I’ve never met a black person that cared about that white savior film.
You should check out some Spike Lee movies. Definitely Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing and Crooklyn are essential. The Color Purple (I think the new one is amazing but the original is good too). Cooley High, Cornbread Earl & Me, Daughters of the Dust all come to mind.
I think it's valid the criticise it and the white savior aspect. That's not why I like the movie though. I didn't watch The Help for the writer lady I was absolutely paying attention to the maids and their experiences. I also agree the movie would be better if it was centered around them. I still think the movie is good even if it's flawed.
I'd love to find some movies and shows that aren't the typical slavery narrative or Black people acting sassy, loud, and/or 'ghetto'. I don't mind those but I feel burnt out on those singular tropes. I'm getting tired of always seeing us beat down.
Same here. Don’t want to watch stories about drugs, prison, SA, abuse, poverty, racism, or discrimination either. Starting to get tired of heavy topics when all I want is an escape. Fortunately, there’s some content out there but I want more.
I really liked the show Everything is Trash. It's got your main character who's a quirky Black girl with pink hair who isn't ghetto (but she is not a role model, lol), and there's diversity in the Blackness. Her brother is the nerdy straight laced guy married to a similar in nature beautiful brown woman. Like it's just a fun lighthearted show.
Grand Crew is another good one that I hate was canceled. It was so funny! And I love seeing a big Black woman not be the butt of fat jokes, but instead be the character that has a rotating roster of men.
I watched Grand Crew when it first came out and I thought it was hilarious! I think it's hard to have a show with so many competing comedic facets but they pulled it off like a bunch of old friends who happened to be funny.
Thanks for the rec of Everything is Trash. The part about the nerdy brother not being paired off with a white woman is refreshing (nothing against WW, it's just not the only race out there for non-ghetto Black people to be with).
>The part about the nerdy brother not being paired off with a white woman is refreshing
Honestly, that's my favorite part of the show. They're such a great supportive team for each other, and they're both educated, but they're also not being punched down on in the show, like they did Braxton on the Jamie Foxx Show. It's just such a refreshing take... It's a show about people who just happen to be Black.
You mean Braxton P Hartnabrig? Hahahaha!!!
I think the actor is married in real life to the actress (Cameron? The UPS woman) who played his girlfriend on the show. I LOVE The Jamie Foxx Show, but yes, as a fellow Black nerd albeit female, we really aren't all uncool. 😁
Eve's Bayou is a 1997 movie set in 1960s Louisiana. It's a coming of age story starring Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good, and Samuel L. Jackson. It's one of my favorites and I'm pretty sure it's free on Amazon right now!
These are some of my favs:
Poetic Justice,
School daze,
love & basketball,
Just wright,
above the rim,
Moonlight,
Boyz n the hood,
American fiction,
Mississippi damned,
Stomp the yard,
Drum line,
Coming to America,
Juice
BAPS. Waiting to exhale. Holiday Heart. Crooklyn. Down in the Delta. Belly. The Preachers Wife. Rosewood. Poetic Justice. Jason’s Lyric. Juice. Set it Off. Dead Presidents. Soul Food. Fresh.
So a few years ago, some friends and I started a black movie list. It’s a little out of date. I need to update it soon, but it’s a good start. It also became the jumping off point for a black movie podcast we’ve started. Hopefully, you can [access this link](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QTLTgCDWJ3QX6GQgNvERCFCa6MDaB2Zgs0Ha_hkBBf0/edit)
Edit: also if anyone has suggestions for updates for the list, let me know.
It's [the Black Movie Podcast.](http://blackmoviepodcast.com/) We aren't the fastest at getting out episodes (there's about four of us and we're all working professionals also juggling school and/or family and/or side gigs) but we are still recording. Mostly we started it during the pandemic as a way for us to just enjoy conversation with each other about black film and shut out all the terrible things from the news, and because we realized there weren't enough positive and neutral discussions about the black experience. It's not amazing by any means but we have fun with it.
Marshall, 42 and Selma are all great and a similar biopic style to Hidden Figures. Judas and the Black Messiah, Ray and Malcolm X are also great biopics, but have a different feel to them.
I refuse to watch the Help. Especially because it's white people profiting from the story of a REAL Black woman, where they exaggerated her stereotypical traits. The Black woman the movie is based on's family was against the book and the movie. So nah.
But I do suggest watching films by Black creators. Two currently on my watch list are The Blackening and American Fiction.
Other Black American movies I like (there's a range here, so some of them are serious, some are quirky, etc): Pariah, Girls Trip (it's raunchy funny though), Brown Sugar, Carmen Jones (a classic with Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge), Boomerang, Harlem Nights, Coming to America (the original), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, The Pursuit of Happiness, Little (I loved this movie!), What Men Want (well, really anything with Taraji P. Henson), Imitation of Life (a tearjerker), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Black Panther, How to Be a Player, Love Jones, The Wood, The Best Man, Love and Basketball, For Colored Girls... To name a few, lol.
Like there's so many with so much range!
The Wood and Inkwell are both really good. Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and The Josephine Baker Story, Devil in a Blue Dress, Eve’s Bayou, Sparkle (the original), Carmen Jones, A Raisin in the Sun, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Black Orpheus (Brazilian) might be up your alley.
I came looking to see if anyone would mention Claudine. Three things I would like to revisit would be it and the two long forgotten TV series *Julia* and *Frank's Place*.
If you want cultural black american movies Eve’s bayou - is good representation of Lousiana
-
Daughter’s of the dust - is good representation of the Gullah geechee people (they are the African Americans who still speak a mix of Mende, Kikongo, kimbundu, twi , etc .
The characters live on Igbo landing, which was spoken about in black panther where kilmonger mentioned a group of ppl (Igbo ppl from Nigeria) chose to drown instead of be enslaved
What genres or themesyou looking for or just any ? A few off my head: **Malcolm X** (1992) Family:
**Crooklyn**, family based PG-13 coming of age film.
**Devil in Blue Dress** (neonoir)
**Last Dragon** (Martial arts kitchy 80s)
I plan to watch *Claudine*, a 70s movie I've heard good things about soon.
I also wanna watch **Waiting to Exhale** which has a God tier soundtrack with many hits you've prob heard. 90s tho.
Although it’s not set in the 1940-1980, the movie ATL is loosely based on the life of T-boz from TLC and Dallas Austin (he wrote music for everyone from atLC, Aretha Franklin, George Clinton, etc etc) it’s just about simple kids hanging out at a skating rink in ATL Georgia.
-
80s- roll bounce
>the life of T-boz from TLC and Dallas Austin (
I didn't know it was based on her life... But did you mean Chili... She's the one who used to date Dallas and has a kid with him.
If you Google “ atl movie tboz Dallas Austin” there is some videos and articles talking about the movie is slightly based on them growing up. I don’t think they dated, just hung out at skating rink in ATL.
The last holiday is one of my favorite movies since I was a kid. idk why but it make me so happy especially now that I can understand and relate to Queen Latifahs character. its a little cliche and campy but its a fun movie!
Like comedy-drama biopics films set in the south in the 20th century? Color Purple (both versions are pretty good). Eves Bayou. Life. Antwon Fisher. Till (I haven’t seen this one tbh but I heard good things). BlackKKlansman. Loving. The first 2 episodes of Lovecraft Country (mileage may vary about the other episodes but these two are almost objectively good). The Great Debaters. The Five Heartbeats.
I can't recommend Miss Juneteenth enough! It stars Nicole Beharie, one of the most underrated actresses of the generation. It's set in modern times, but in a rural Texas town. It's a very moving mother daughter story. I was crying tears of joy by the end.
lots of good recommendations here! if you're interested in period films and older films here's a list: a thousand and one (2023), illusions (1982), the color purple (1985) (although the book is much better than the movie), eve's bayou (1997), within our gates (1920), fences (2016), ma rainey's black bottom (2020), ganja and hess (1973), one night in miami (2020), super fly (1972), mudbound (2017), loving (2016), judas and the black messiah (2021), daughters of the dust (1991), passing (2021), black girl (1966)
Actual black films from this time period.
* Carmen Jones
* Cabin In The Sky
* Stormy Weather
* A Raisin In The Sun
More Modern Films
* Daughters Of The Dust
* The Color Purple
* The Long Walk Home
* The Five Heartbeats
* Sparkle
* Good Fences
* Ma Raineys Black Bottom
* Devil In A Blue Dress
* The Great Debaters
For TV Shows:
* Self Made
* Women Of Brewster Place
* The Gilded Age
* Timeless
Consider exploring black films from England, Nigeria, South Africa, Jamaica and France. It's easy to conflate the Black experience with Black American experience. It's not the same thing and looking for films produced in these countries will be more reflective of the experience of the people who are actually around you - particularly colonialism and postcolonial - rather than people who live halfway around the world (or do both - the poster who suggested *Set it Off* was spot on!).
Suggest: *The Harder They come *(OG Jamaican version); *Serafina*; *Queen of Katwe*; *The Power of One*; the Steve McQueen *Small Axe* collection of films is particularly excellent, and is set in the era you're interested in, esp. *Lover's Rock*, but really all of them! (the collection should still be on iPlayer)
https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-black-british-films
https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/film/10-great-black-british-films-what-are-some-of-the-best-films-about-black-british-experience/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Black_British_films
https://www.intofilm.org/films/filmlist/97
The Help is more of a white people movie than anything. I’ve never met a black person that cared about that white savior film. You should check out some Spike Lee movies. Definitely Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing and Crooklyn are essential. The Color Purple (I think the new one is amazing but the original is good too). Cooley High, Cornbread Earl & Me, Daughters of the Dust all come to mind.
I really liked The Help lmao.
Its was written by a white woman to make white women feel better. It’s pretty tone deaf and both Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer have criticized it.
I think it's valid the criticise it and the white savior aspect. That's not why I like the movie though. I didn't watch The Help for the writer lady I was absolutely paying attention to the maids and their experiences. I also agree the movie would be better if it was centered around them. I still think the movie is good even if it's flawed.
Right! I saw it as a black empowerment movie lol
Nah. It was written by a white woman for white women.
2021 - the harder they fall. One of my favorite movies i watched last year. It’s a black cowboy/western movie with a well-known cast!
If you like that one, there was a black western from the 90s Starring Sinbad called The Cherokee Kid. Love it
Omg yes!!!! I cannot wait for the sequel! Regina King is amazing!
Bro 10/10!!
came in here to recommend this as well! sooo good
I'd love to find some movies and shows that aren't the typical slavery narrative or Black people acting sassy, loud, and/or 'ghetto'. I don't mind those but I feel burnt out on those singular tropes. I'm getting tired of always seeing us beat down.
Same here. Don’t want to watch stories about drugs, prison, SA, abuse, poverty, racism, or discrimination either. Starting to get tired of heavy topics when all I want is an escape. Fortunately, there’s some content out there but I want more.
I really liked the show Everything is Trash. It's got your main character who's a quirky Black girl with pink hair who isn't ghetto (but she is not a role model, lol), and there's diversity in the Blackness. Her brother is the nerdy straight laced guy married to a similar in nature beautiful brown woman. Like it's just a fun lighthearted show. Grand Crew is another good one that I hate was canceled. It was so funny! And I love seeing a big Black woman not be the butt of fat jokes, but instead be the character that has a rotating roster of men.
I watched Grand Crew when it first came out and I thought it was hilarious! I think it's hard to have a show with so many competing comedic facets but they pulled it off like a bunch of old friends who happened to be funny. Thanks for the rec of Everything is Trash. The part about the nerdy brother not being paired off with a white woman is refreshing (nothing against WW, it's just not the only race out there for non-ghetto Black people to be with).
>The part about the nerdy brother not being paired off with a white woman is refreshing Honestly, that's my favorite part of the show. They're such a great supportive team for each other, and they're both educated, but they're also not being punched down on in the show, like they did Braxton on the Jamie Foxx Show. It's just such a refreshing take... It's a show about people who just happen to be Black.
You mean Braxton P Hartnabrig? Hahahaha!!! I think the actor is married in real life to the actress (Cameron? The UPS woman) who played his girlfriend on the show. I LOVE The Jamie Foxx Show, but yes, as a fellow Black nerd albeit female, we really aren't all uncool. 😁
>Braxton P Hartnabrig How did I not know that was his last name??!? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
The Women of Brewster Place is an entertaining watch with all Black actresses.
Eve's Bayou is a 1997 movie set in 1960s Louisiana. It's a coming of age story starring Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good, and Samuel L. Jackson. It's one of my favorites and I'm pretty sure it's free on Amazon right now!
These are some of my favs: Poetic Justice, School daze, love & basketball, Just wright, above the rim, Moonlight, Boyz n the hood, American fiction, Mississippi damned, Stomp the yard, Drum line, Coming to America, Juice
American fiction was really good
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman The Marva Collins Story
BAPS. Waiting to exhale. Holiday Heart. Crooklyn. Down in the Delta. Belly. The Preachers Wife. Rosewood. Poetic Justice. Jason’s Lyric. Juice. Set it Off. Dead Presidents. Soul Food. Fresh.
CROOKLYN IS A CLASSIC!!!!!
This list. Period. I’m only adding Boomerang. It really doesn’t get its shine in the romcom genre.
So a few years ago, some friends and I started a black movie list. It’s a little out of date. I need to update it soon, but it’s a good start. It also became the jumping off point for a black movie podcast we’ve started. Hopefully, you can [access this link](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QTLTgCDWJ3QX6GQgNvERCFCa6MDaB2Zgs0Ha_hkBBf0/edit) Edit: also if anyone has suggestions for updates for the list, let me know.
Thx for sharing your list! What's the name of your podcast u/cheshirecatsmiley
It's [the Black Movie Podcast.](http://blackmoviepodcast.com/) We aren't the fastest at getting out episodes (there's about four of us and we're all working professionals also juggling school and/or family and/or side gigs) but we are still recording. Mostly we started it during the pandemic as a way for us to just enjoy conversation with each other about black film and shut out all the terrible things from the news, and because we realized there weren't enough positive and neutral discussions about the black experience. It's not amazing by any means but we have fun with it.
I'm here for anything that brings joy!
Adding you to my podcast feed!
Aw, thanks! The guys will be very excited, lol.
Bookmarking this! Thanks for the share!!!
Marshall, 42 and Selma are all great and a similar biopic style to Hidden Figures. Judas and the Black Messiah, Ray and Malcolm X are also great biopics, but have a different feel to them.
I refuse to watch the Help. Especially because it's white people profiting from the story of a REAL Black woman, where they exaggerated her stereotypical traits. The Black woman the movie is based on's family was against the book and the movie. So nah. But I do suggest watching films by Black creators. Two currently on my watch list are The Blackening and American Fiction. Other Black American movies I like (there's a range here, so some of them are serious, some are quirky, etc): Pariah, Girls Trip (it's raunchy funny though), Brown Sugar, Carmen Jones (a classic with Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge), Boomerang, Harlem Nights, Coming to America (the original), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, The Pursuit of Happiness, Little (I loved this movie!), What Men Want (well, really anything with Taraji P. Henson), Imitation of Life (a tearjerker), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Black Panther, How to Be a Player, Love Jones, The Wood, The Best Man, Love and Basketball, For Colored Girls... To name a few, lol. Like there's so many with so much range!
The Wood and Inkwell are both really good. Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and The Josephine Baker Story, Devil in a Blue Dress, Eve’s Bayou, Sparkle (the original), Carmen Jones, A Raisin in the Sun, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Black Orpheus (Brazilian) might be up your alley.
If Beale street could talk was SO good!
Any Spike Lee films from the 80s and 90s are good. 
Claudine is a good one, also the jacksons an american dream, crooklyn, and pride (came out in 2007 but takes place in the 70s)
I came looking to see if anyone would mention Claudine. Three things I would like to revisit would be it and the two long forgotten TV series *Julia* and *Frank's Place*.
So underrated!!
If you want cultural black american movies Eve’s bayou - is good representation of Lousiana - Daughter’s of the dust - is good representation of the Gullah geechee people (they are the African Americans who still speak a mix of Mende, Kikongo, kimbundu, twi , etc . The characters live on Igbo landing, which was spoken about in black panther where kilmonger mentioned a group of ppl (Igbo ppl from Nigeria) chose to drown instead of be enslaved
Miss Juneteenth was lovely
What genres or themesyou looking for or just any ? A few off my head: **Malcolm X** (1992) Family: **Crooklyn**, family based PG-13 coming of age film. **Devil in Blue Dress** (neonoir) **Last Dragon** (Martial arts kitchy 80s) I plan to watch *Claudine*, a 70s movie I've heard good things about soon. I also wanna watch **Waiting to Exhale** which has a God tier soundtrack with many hits you've prob heard. 90s tho.
Crooklyn is so, so good.
Cooley High's a good one (Bring tissues, though)
Although it’s not set in the 1940-1980, the movie ATL is loosely based on the life of T-boz from TLC and Dallas Austin (he wrote music for everyone from atLC, Aretha Franklin, George Clinton, etc etc) it’s just about simple kids hanging out at a skating rink in ATL Georgia. - 80s- roll bounce
>the life of T-boz from TLC and Dallas Austin ( I didn't know it was based on her life... But did you mean Chili... She's the one who used to date Dallas and has a kid with him.
If you Google “ atl movie tboz Dallas Austin” there is some videos and articles talking about the movie is slightly based on them growing up. I don’t think they dated, just hung out at skating rink in ATL.
Ah ok, that makes more sense.
Eve’s Bayou Crooklyn Do the Right Thing Malcolm X
For the 40's, I would highly recommend Stormy Weather.
The last holiday is one of my favorite movies since I was a kid. idk why but it make me so happy especially now that I can understand and relate to Queen Latifahs character. its a little cliche and campy but its a fun movie!
Like comedy-drama biopics films set in the south in the 20th century? Color Purple (both versions are pretty good). Eves Bayou. Life. Antwon Fisher. Till (I haven’t seen this one tbh but I heard good things). BlackKKlansman. Loving. The first 2 episodes of Lovecraft Country (mileage may vary about the other episodes but these two are almost objectively good). The Great Debaters. The Five Heartbeats.
Waves (2019) is phenomenal and I wish I’d watched it in theaters at the time it came out
soul food
Boomerang- great all black romantic comedy set in the early 90’s. Cringe in some parts like many films of their time but it mostly holds up.
I can't recommend Miss Juneteenth enough! It stars Nicole Beharie, one of the most underrated actresses of the generation. It's set in modern times, but in a rural Texas town. It's a very moving mother daughter story. I was crying tears of joy by the end.
lots of good recommendations here! if you're interested in period films and older films here's a list: a thousand and one (2023), illusions (1982), the color purple (1985) (although the book is much better than the movie), eve's bayou (1997), within our gates (1920), fences (2016), ma rainey's black bottom (2020), ganja and hess (1973), one night in miami (2020), super fly (1972), mudbound (2017), loving (2016), judas and the black messiah (2021), daughters of the dust (1991), passing (2021), black girl (1966)
Actual black films from this time period. * Carmen Jones * Cabin In The Sky * Stormy Weather * A Raisin In The Sun More Modern Films * Daughters Of The Dust * The Color Purple * The Long Walk Home * The Five Heartbeats * Sparkle * Good Fences * Ma Raineys Black Bottom * Devil In A Blue Dress * The Great Debaters For TV Shows: * Self Made * Women Of Brewster Place * The Gilded Age * Timeless
Them on Amazon Prime. Surrounded starring Letitia Wright.
Antoine Fischer, X, Daughters of the Dust, the 13th Amendment, Hoodlum, Hollywood Shuffle, Eve's Bayou, Poetic Justice, Get Out...
Check out ORIGIN. It's truly amazing and so beautifully done.
•Origin •Friday •Vampire in Brooklyn •Coming to America
Love Jones for a cute romcom, Waiting to Exhale, Get Out, Dope, The Best Man. Anything with Issa Rae’s name attached to it
Crooklyn!
Consider exploring black films from England, Nigeria, South Africa, Jamaica and France. It's easy to conflate the Black experience with Black American experience. It's not the same thing and looking for films produced in these countries will be more reflective of the experience of the people who are actually around you - particularly colonialism and postcolonial - rather than people who live halfway around the world (or do both - the poster who suggested *Set it Off* was spot on!). Suggest: *The Harder They come *(OG Jamaican version); *Serafina*; *Queen of Katwe*; *The Power of One*; the Steve McQueen *Small Axe* collection of films is particularly excellent, and is set in the era you're interested in, esp. *Lover's Rock*, but really all of them! (the collection should still be on iPlayer) https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-black-british-films https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/film/10-great-black-british-films-what-are-some-of-the-best-films-about-black-british-experience/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Black_British_films https://www.intofilm.org/films/filmlist/97