American Society of Magical Negroes

 

Kobi Libii's debut feature, American Society of Magical Negroes, is tanking in its theatrical release, but I trust it will find a more appreciative audience when it arrives on streaming, which will quite likely be soon.

I enjoyed the picture and appreciate what Libii tries to do in blending the cinematic trope of deferential Black secondary characters with the reality of African American endangerment because of the itchy discomfort of some white folks.

The fine young actor Justice Smith (The Get Down) plays Libii's alter ego in a story I take is rooted not only in the filmmaker's study of motion picture history regarding depictions of race but in his own lived experience. Smith plays Aren, a struggling textile artist (I can't imagine any other kind) who has been navigating L.A. with a quick smile and a quicker apology.

One evening, after an especially disheartening art show, he finds himself accused of taking a young woman's purse at an ATM. The situation is "miraculously" de-escalated by David Alan Grier's mystical Roger, who invites Aren to a recruitment meeting. At the meeting, Aren is introduced to the eponymous group whose role is to help ease the anxiety of white folks for the safety of Black folks because dis-ease equals death.

Yes, that premise is a lot to swallow, but it didn't strike me as being that much more challenging -- considering current events -- than Spike Lee's Bamboozled (2000) or Robert Townsend's Hollywood Shuffle (1987), both of which wrestled with race and racism to wildly divergent audience response.

Aren earns his "Magical Negro" wings and is assigned a client, Jason, a vacuous and self-involved co-worker at a social media platform. Aren is first assigned to helping Jason (Drew Tarver) earn a promotion but shortly also to woo a bright young designer (An-Li Bogan), to whom Aren himself is attracted.

Aren has been warned, however, that he must never act in his own behalf or all of the Magical Negroes will be powerless to help anxious white folks. This, in turn, would endanger Black folks everywhere. Things go awry, as one might expect, which leads to a final act that is both clunky and inspired (that tonal unevenness, again).

Smith, a skilled stage actor, is bright and engaging and is the reason the picture works as well as it does, I think. A less likable protagonist would have made it much easier to dismiss the whole thing as a sad misfire.

I understand why many audiences might be frustrated by the film's uneven tone and its under-developed narrative structure, but I still think it introduces intriguing ideas that are worth exploring in more depth.