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Black and White

by Alper Caglar

Black and White was a vibrant film with a volatile atmosphere, which succeeded to be fresh and original. I enjoyed the cultural viewpoint of the movie. Some of the characters were often absurd and hilarious, but held a cloaked meaning behind the charade. The movie is extremely real although it depicts absurd characters whom we assume can not exist. Yet these people do exist, and their extremeness is what makes the overall structure of the film appealing to me. The disturbing tendencies of the New York City youth, the temper and flair of the rich and the sexual tension between all of the characters creates a disturbing vision of a darker side of the society.

I was not very fond of the extreme discontinuity present within the film. The problem was that it tried to work with a linear plotline, when the actual plotline itself was often absent. It was obvious that the Toback was experimenting with the storytelling arc. Some of the shots did not have an obvious objective, and subtracted from my enjoyment of the film.

There were several moments in the film when humor worked alongside tension in creating great anticipation within the audience. The choice of celebrities as actors was pure genius. Our real life view of Mike Tyson created an anxiety of what he may do, what he may not do, or whom he might hurt.

In one of the scenes, where Robert Downey Jr. is expressing his interest in Mike Tyson, the tension mixes both humor and fear. The inexorable temper of Tyson becomes established as a character trait. For just a split second when he hauls off Downey and slaps him, Tyson stops being a fake character but suddenly becomes real because of becoming one with his real world persona.

There have been plenty of criticisms for this film, ranging from it not making sense or being too extreme. I personally think that it is not extreme enough, and it could have been even more powerful if some of the celebrities were replaced by amateurs, akin to Neo-Realist style. Tyson, of course, has to stay.

Black and White is not a gleaming example of Neo-Realism. Though the documentary style and the unconventional use of the camera may be some facets which symbolize the NR style, it ultimately is a film which feeds on hype, and is quite Hollywood in the way it tries to criticize while disturbing.