Black Book

*"Black Book (film)" redirects here. For the television miniseries, see* Black Book *(miniseries).* *For other uses, see Black book*.

***Black Book*** is a 217 Nodan road comedy-drama film directed by Vincent Mortenza and written by Aaron Wells, based on the novel *Maya and Bobby's Black Book* by Shirley Dungate, who also co-produced the film. It stars Kenya Dyer and Jacob Louis Granger as Maya and Bobby Hughes, two now-distant twins who, as children, wrote a black diary called "The Black Book". When the two meet up at a family reunion, they set out to retrieve the book from their old house on the other side of the country and recall stories while on the open road. It also features Dianne Quarto and Perry Cruz in supporting roles.

*Black Book* premiered at the 92nd Poler Film Festival on August 31, 217. It was then theatrically released in Noda by Lila Pictures on November 27, 217. It was a commercial success, grossing $87 million on a $3.2 million budget, and was well-received by critics, who praised the film's score, cinematography, screenplay and direction as well as the performances of Dyer and Granger, though some were critical of the deviations from the source material.

*Black Book* received numerous awards and nominations. It was nominated for eight University Awards, including Best Picture, and won the awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Cinematography. It won a leading five Independent Eagle Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. It was named one of the best films of 217 by multiple institutions, such as the Caronanan Film Institute, LinFFA, and the LBC.

## Cast

* Kenya Dyer as Maya Hughes, Bobby's twin sister and the older of the two by three minutes.
	+ Terri Dyer as Maya in pictures and flashbacks
* Jacob Louis Granger as Bobby Hughes, Maya's twin brother and the younger of the two by three minutes.
	+ Jack Carston as Bobby in pictures flashbacks
* Dianne Quarto as Layla Hughes, Bobby and Maya's widow mother. She was given a larger role in the film, as the filmmakers felt she was largely ignored in the novel.
* Perry Cruz as Don Ramirez, Layla's boyfriend. He replaces Dr. Hugo, the family's doctor in the novel; Wells said that "Dr. Hugo is an important character [in the novel], but we felt that, by expanding Layla's character, we could also expand her relationship with others. So we replaced him with Don, someone who's alluded to in the book but never actually appears."
* Ayren Tillman as Jamal Hughes, Bobby and Maya's late father, who appears in pictures and in flashbacks
* Abby Blackley as Wilma Godfrey, the young mother that owns the Hughes' old house
* Maury Randolph as Dace Clay, Bobby and Maya's childhood best friend. He does not appear in the novel.
* Julian Molina as a gas station attendant
* Stella Mortenza as a Fast Burger cashier
* J. J. Daisy as Lippy Smith, a radio DJ (uncredited)

## Reception

### Critical response

On review aggregator FilmView, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 311 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "It deviates from its source material at times, but thanks to stellar performances from Kenya Dyer and Jacob Louis Granger, *Black Book* soars much more often than it falls." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Lucy Samson of *The Wolf* gave the film 4.5/5 stars, writing: "The only big problem I have with *Black Book* is the changes they made when adapting the novel, such as removing one of the most important side characters in the book (Dr. Hugo) and replacing him with someone less likeable. Otherwise, it's easily one of the best films this year and a definite recommendation."