''Black or White'' is a 2014 American
drama film written and directed by
Mike Binder. The film stars
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actors G ...
,
Octavia Spencer, Jillian Estell,
Bill Burr
William Frederick Burr (born June 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, filmmaker, and podcaster. He has released multiple stand-up comedy specials, most notably ''Why Do I Do This?'' (2008), ''Let It Go'' (2010), ''You People Are A ...
,
Jennifer Ehle
Jennifer Anne Ehle (; born December 29, 1969) is an American actress, the daughter of English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. She gained fame for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries ''Pride and Prejud ...
,
Andre Holland,
Gillian Jacobs
Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as Britta Perry on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015) and Mickey Dobbs on the Netflix romantic comedy series ''Love'' (2016� ...
, and
Anthony Mackie
Anthony Dwane Mackie (born September 23, 1978) is an American actor. Mackie made his acting debut starring in the semi-biographical drama film '' 8 Mile'' (2002). He was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor for his per ...
. The film premiered at the 2014
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
and was released in the United States on January 30, 2015.
Premise
Elliot Anderson is widowed after a car crash leads to the death of his wife. At the funeral, Rowena, his granddaughter Eloise's paternal grandmother, offers to care for Eloise, but Elliot angrily declines. Elliot raises his granddaughter as he struggles with his grief by binge-drinking. Elliot's world is turned upside-down when Rowena demands that Eloise be brought under the care of her father Reggie, Rowena's son, who is addicted to drugs and whom Elliot blames for the negligence that led to the death of his own daughter. Elliot finds himself deeply entrenched in a custody battle and will stop at nothing to keep his granddaughter from coming under the watch of her reckless father.
Cast
Production
On September 25, 2014,
Open Road Films
Open Road Films, LLC (formerly Global Road Entertainment from 2017 to 2018) is an American film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Eric Hohl on March 26, 2011 as a joint venture between the t ...
was in talks to acquire the US distribution rights to the film. On October 17,
Relativity Media acquired the US rights to the film.
A thousand girls auditioned for the part of Eloise.
Costner financed the film using his own money.
Post production
Principal photography of the film began on July 15, 2013 in
New Orleans with the filming lasting for five weeks.
Release
Relativity planned to release the film in time to qualify for the Oscar race,
starting with a limited release on December 3, 2014 then opening wide on January 30, 2015.
Home media
''Black or White'' was released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 5, 2015.
Reception
Box office
''Black or White'' grossed $21.6 million in North America against a budget of $9 million.
In its opening weekend of January 30, 2015, the film made a gross of $2.3 million on Friday, $3 million on Saturday, and $986,312 on Sunday for a weekend total of $6.2 million, playing in 1,823 with a per-theater average of $3,408 and ranking #4.
Critical response
''Black or White'' received mixed reviews from critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 39% rating, based on 102 reviews, with an average rating of 5.19/10. The website's consensus reads: "''Black or White'' has more on its mind than your average family drama, but the film's approach to its thought-provoking themes too often lives down to its title." On
Metacritic, the film has a score of 45 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
Jordan Mintzer of
The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Black and White never panders too easily to sentiments, creating characters who are riddled with flaws but likeable all the same."
Scott Foundas of
Variety praised Costner for his performance calling it "some of the finest, most deeply felt work of his career" but was critical of the film "this well-intentioned family drama never quite shakes free from its
didactic, movie-of-the-week
dramaturgy and a hand-holding approach to race-relations."
References
External links
*
{{Kevin Costner
2014 films
2014 drama films
2010s English-language films
Films about alcoholism
Films about lawyers
Films about race and ethnicity
Films directed by Mike Binder
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films shot in New Orleans
Relativity Media films
Sunlight Productions films
Films scored by Terence Blanchard
African-American drama films
2010s American films