White Girl (Movie Review)
ReeNoun
*CONTAINS SPOILERS
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive, psychoactive, stimulant drug made from coca leaves. Often referred to as: White Girl, Snow, Blow, Candy, and Dust.
Don't do drugs, shorty.
Aw....how could you not love, Blue? The sensitive Latino drug dealer with a heart and terrible taste in women. White Girl, is a love story--sort've, but it's no Romeo and Juliet. Blue (Brian Sene Marc) and Leah (Morgan Saylor) have something special... according to Blue that is. They are a far cry from star-crossed lovers, in that, they are their own worst enemies, not their dueling families. As the film develops, we realize Leah is the portrait of a Caucasian-American party girl. Her long flowing blonde hair and scantly clad college body are her superpowers. She is a thrill seeker, always looking for the next rush. She approaches Blue--who is named the somber color, because he is sad all the time. He is a somewhat cautious street dealer, who at first is content to stay in his area. Things soon change after meeting Leah. It happens as she approaches him one hot summer night, hoping to score. It doesn't take long before Blue abandons his, I-don't-mess-with-people-who-do-coke attitude and is seduced by Leah. Blue takes his first hit of Leah and the two begin down a long spiral that makes for a damn good PSA (public service announcement) about the dangers of drugs. The unrated tale is borderline pornographic at times and you have to wonder how much of it is just acting.
While, I've never tried coke, I would imagine, director and screenwriter, Elizabeth Wood captured that feeling. We see Leah, careless, wild and free as she dances topless at a rave, just because. We also see her vomit midway through a 3-way with her internship boss. Leah is cocaine. She is the high and the low and the sometimes fatal effects.
It's not all sex and drugs. The movie uses (Chris Noth--thee Mr. Big) attorney at law, George to verbalize the obvious truth that the film was deliberately moving toward at a point. The inequality that feeds the systematic racism in America. Sex and drugs are a clever way to sneak in the message but by the end of the film, you know that there in injustice afoot. At one point, George, Leah and Blue's legal counsel, says, the justice system is flawed, black (and Latino) kids get stiffer sentences than whites. Soon after, George becomes the predictably sleazy lawyer and says he knows a way around it...and he does.
Just when you think there's hope for Leah and Blue to live the perfect life of a supplier and drug addict...Leah reminds us just why you can't trust a drug addict to do shit. In the end, she ruins Blue and the story ends with her virtually unscathed.
PS. Brian Sene Marc is not only a talented actor, this papi chulo, is half of the duo, Denitia and Sene. The singer-songwriters have an alternative R &B sound smoother than silk. Their latest release, Love and Noir. is out now.