A Journal for Jordan

**A Journal for Jordan** is a 2021 American drama film directed and co-produced by Denzel Washington which was released on December 25, 2021 by Sony Pictures Releasing through the Columbia Pictures banner.

It is based on Dana Canedy's 2008 memoir, "A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor".

## Plot

While 1st Sergeant Charles Monroe King is deployed in Iraq, he writes a journal for his infant son, Jordan that his fiancée, Dana shares with him.

## Cast

* Michael B. Jordan as 1st Sergeant Charles Monroe King
* Chanté Adams as Dana Canedy
* Jalon Christian as Jordan
* Robert Wisdom as Sergeant T.J. Canedy
* Tamara Tunie as Penny Canedy
* Jasmine Batchelor as Gwen Canedy
* Marchánt Davis as Mike Canedy
* Susan Pourfar as Miriam
* Vanessa Aspillga as Robin
* Grey Henson as Ciro
* Johnny M. Wu as Manny

## Box Office

"A Journal for Jordan" grossed $2,201,886 in its opening weekend and $6,682,648 worldwide.

## Critical Reception

The Washington Post wrote: *"Despite a story line that covers such fraught historical events as 9/11 and the Iraq War, the movie is too tidy to ever really feel like a living, breathing thing."*

Roger Moore from Movie Nation called it *"an ungainly film that loses focus time and again, drifting off to indulge its stars with extraneous scenes and badly-handled or simply unnecessary story threads."*

Empire Magazine said: *"A Journal For Jordan is probably better suited to the page than the screen."*

Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Ordona stated: *"The picture’s too rosy to feel real. Its elements of posthumous, loving advice and inevitable tragedy make for good bones. But this portrait is too clean, too unquestioning, too accepting, to get to the marrow."*

Mark Kennedy from The Associated Press wrote: *"[Denzel] Washington earns his audience’s tears with an unrushed, unshowy style, letting an adult and very human relationship evolve on camera, skipping back and forth through years as it goes from love, birth, death and acceptance."*

The San Francisco Chronicle said that the film *"feels churlish and downright Scrooge-like to point out its flaws"*, adding that the film's subject matter *"deserves better than this overlong melodrama spiked with occasional moments of welcome humor and pathos."*

Nick Allen from The Playlist wrote: *"As the overly long movie becomes about 130 minutes of his own propaganda, [Denzel] Washington romanticizes an ideal of man that has never actually existed, instead of a human being who did."*

Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com said: *"[Chante] Adams and [Michael B.] Jordan have a warm, engaging connection on screen, and there is a surprising but welcome touch of humor as their romance develops."*

Writing for The A.V. Club, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky said: *"Adapted from a 2008 memoir by former New York Times writer and editor Dana Canedy, it trades in cloying sentimentality and romance, the gooey melodrama done no favors by Washington’s stiff, anonymous direction."*

The New York Times wrote: *"Denzel Washington directs this adaptation (the screenplay is by Virgil Williams) with care, respect and a deep-seated knowledge of the Black love stories that don't make it to the big screen nearly enough."*

Mark Feeney from the Boston Globe wrote: *"The film is earnest, if also a bit slick, though not so much as to keep it from being affecting."*

Kate Erbland of indieWire said that the film *"fails to adhere to this very basic storytelling conceit, as Williams' script soon opts to unpack a fraught romance that few people would feel comfortable sharing with their offspring."*

## Awards

**NAACP Image Awards** (2022)

* Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture: Denzel Washington [*Nominated*]
* Outstanding Breakthrough Performance in a Motion Picture: Jalon Christian [*Nominated*]
* Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture: Virgil Williams [*Nominated*]