When people discuss the filmmaking prowess of Spike Lee, they mention works like “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X,” “Mo Better Blues” or “She’s Gotta Have It.” Very few people beyond serious movie nerds (like me) know anything about Lee’s film that kick-started his Oscar-winning career – “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads.”
Developed while he was a film student, “Joe’s” was Lee’s NYU Tisch Film graduate school thesis film. And though it doesn’t get the love and attention of a “Jungle Fever” or “School Daze,” without “Joe’s” those Lee classics conceivably never get made.
And that would be a crime.
So, too, would it be a sin and shame if Houston’s Black community (and anyone else interested in good cinema) doesn’t show up and show out for a local filmmaker on the rise as she debuts her first flick.
The filmmaker – Holly Charles-Pearson.
The movie – “If They Took Us Back.”
A must-see
I had the honor of previewing this film which is roughly 30 minutes in length. It absolutely left me wanting more – and I mean that in the best possible way.
As a longtime movie-head and a Pan-African history professor who cares deeply about our relationships as a people, whether we’re American-born, from the continent or from another part of the diaspora, this film spoke to me on so many levels.
And speaking of levels, “If They Took Us Back” comes with more than enough. The film grapples with the issue of reparations, alternate history, Pan-African relations and the beefs that exist therein, the practice of “passing,” imposter syndrome and so much more.
The little things
But what really impressed me was the fact that if I hadn’t known Charles-Pearson was a first-time screenwriter/director, nothing in her debut work would have given me a clue. Unlike Lee’s “Joe’s,” which, even for its brilliance, is obviously the director’s maiden voyage, “If They Took Us Back” could easily be mistaken for a piece of art created and produced by someone who’s been in the business for years.
Listen, if you’ve been blown away by the absolute eye-popping beauty with which Issa Rae and crew portrayed Black skin on screen – something rarely done right before “Insecure” – the lighting and presentation of Blackfolk alone in “If They Took Us Back” will have you hooked.
But being the movie nerd that I am, I noticed the little things while watching Charles-Pearson’s movie – the movement from scene to scene (edits and cuts), the pace of the story, the acting, wardrobe, etc. Yo, everything was beyond on point, and accentuated a complicated and layered story worth telling, worth seeing and worth discussing.
Can we talk?
To that last point, I’m trying my best not to share the entire story of this film and knock you upside the head with spoilers because I want so badly to be in conversation with someone, anyone, about the issues addressed and questions raised by this movie. But I can share what Charles-Pearson has already released to the media:
“If They Took Us Back” is inspired by a hypothetical exodus of formerly enslaved people back to Africa following the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. More than a century later, a descendant of the ‘Black Returns’ decides to break the 160-year exile and return to the U.S. in exchange for overdue reparations from a remorseful, sympathetic and Black-obsessed America.
Charles-Pearson, who was born and raised right outside of Chicago, is no stranger to the Houston scene, having not only lived here for years but made her mark as an educator, PR maven and formidable, award-winning playwright who brings the Blackness unapologetically. She’s a storyteller by nature, and used that gift in her teaching, PR work and play production. And she sho-nuff brought it with this, her first film.
Houston, pull up
Houston, we have a problem if we don’t show up for the H-Town debut of Charles-Pearson’s movie on Saturday, June 22 at Emancipation Park Conservancy (3018 Emancipation Ave., Houston, 77004) for two showings (3p.m. and 7p.m.). But for those who want to be in the house for the Texas debut, Fourth Industrial Pictures, Charles-Pearson’s production company, will debut the movie in Austin (her second home) on Juneteenth (Wednesday, June 19) at 2024 Stateside at The Paramount Theater (719 Congress Ave., Austin).
Links to purchase tickets are available now by visiting @iftheytookusback on Instagram. General admission tickets begin at $35, and VIP tickets are available for $50.
“If They Took Us Back,” worthy of acclaim in its own right, could be her “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads.” Who knows how many classic cinema moments await Charles-Pearson if enough eyes see this movie and recognize the meteoric talent that she possesses?
Will she be the next Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay or John Singleton? That’s impossible to say. But as members of Houston’s Black community, we can provide the support needed so soul sister can be the best Holly Charles-Pearson she can be. And by the looks of her first film, aspiring moviemakers generations from now will be pointing to her as their inspiration.
