Listen Live
WRNB HD2 Featured Video
CLOSE

For some reason, most movies aimed at African-American audiences tend to be either over-the-top comedies or morality plays too melodramatic in tone to be taken very seriously.

Flying in the face of that trend is I Will Follow, one of those refreshingly rare treats which simply presents black folks in a recognizably realistic fashion, ala such similarly understated classics as Eve’s Bayou (1997), Nothing But a Man (1964) and The Visit (2000).

Written and directed by Ava DuVernay (This Is the Life), the picture stars Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Maye Fisher, a successful makeup artist who put her career and her man (Blair Underwood) on hold to attend to a beloved Aunt (Beverly Todd) battling cancer.

The film unfolds in L.A. over the course of just 24 hours right in the wake of Amanda’s funeral. While packing up their belongings, the grief-stricken caregiver pauses periodically to reminisce about the fond memories triggered by this or that item she’s wrapping.

At the end of the day, exhausted and drained, Maye finally finds a shoulder to lean on in tow truck driver, Troy (Omari Hardwick)  and begans to reassess her own relationship priorities as she contemplates dating a sensitive brother despite his modest means.

Congrats to Salli Richardson-Whitfield for delivering a career performance, here, and to Ava DuVernay for shooting such a thought-provoking meditation on mortality in just a couple of weeks and on a micro budget.

Check out the Trailer below.