Yelling to the Sky

This 2011 drama written and directed by Victoria Mahoney was slow and almost painful to watch. There were some good moments, great acting, but the story seemed drawn out and didn't flow well. I was attracted to see this film because of Gabourney Sidibe whom you may remember from 'Precious' (Yelling to the Sky, being her 2nd film), Zoe Kravitz (daughter of legends Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet and scores of films in her own right) as well as Aussie Jason Clarke whom is a hot ticket right now after starring in the recent 'The Great Gatsby'. The film's message was poignant and special being that our main character had to journey through hell and back to be heard/seen/loved by her dysfunctional family. Sadly, it came across as just another 'teen's rite of passage' movie with interesting and often shaky camera angles.

Although the run-time of 94 minutes proved to be agonizing at times, it was an excellent display of Kravitz's forceful talent, violent struggle to stay afloat in a rough high school and showed the still 'unusual' to viewers, interracial family/relationships. Filmed in Bushwick and Brooklyn New York, this film was still able to cross the borders by being nominated at the 'Berlin International Film Festival' as well as the 'Black Reel Awards'.