Lackawanna Blues
Cool music, a wonderful atmospheric feel, and first-rate performances by a stellar cast distinguishLackawanna Blues, a 2005, 90-minute film originally broadcast by HBO. Director George C. Wolfe's theater background (as a writer and/or director he's been responsible forThe Colored Museum,Jelly's Last Jam, andBring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk) is apparent; adapted by scriptwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson from his own autobiographical play,Lackawanna Bluesis less a story than a reminiscence, told by a young man (an affecting performance by Marcus Carl Franklin) raised by the indefatigable Rachel "Nanny" Crosby (an equally fine turn by S. Epatha Merkerson, known to many from her role in TV'sLaw & Order) in that upstate New York town. The focus is on Nanny's rooming house, which is populated by all manner of colorful characters (played by the likes of Macy Gray, Jeffrey Wright, and many others, with Jimmy Smits and Carmen Ejogo as the boy's wayward parents). The roomers include drunks, hustlers, ex-cons, and other shady types, but while plenty of bad stuff goes on, it's all coated with a certain patina of sentiment that tends to minimize the hard realities of life for African Americans in the early 1960s. That's fine; Wolfe, with the help of some superb editing by Brian Kates, gives the film such a delightful period vibe that it's easy to overlook its few shortcomings. The music (available on asoundtrack CD), ranging from downhome country blues to uptown swing, jump blues, and more, also makes a major contribution to the delightful diversion that isLackawanna Blues.--Sam Graham