''Black Nativity'' is a 2013 American musical

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Kasi Lemmons Kasi Lemmons (; born Karen Lemmons, February 24, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with ''Eve's Bayou'' (1997), followed by '' Talk to Me'' (2007), ''Black Nativity'' (2013), '' Harriet ...

. The script, written by Lemmons, is based on Langston Hughes' 1961 play of the same name and released on November 27, 2013. The film stars an ensemble cast, featuring

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. After making his f ...

, Angela Bassett,

Tyrese Gibson Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) is an American actor and singer. He released his self-titled debut album in 1998, which featured the single " Sweet Lady", peaking at number twelve on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His second ...

Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, televisio ...

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

Jacob Latimore Jacob O'Neal Latimore (born August 10, 1996) is an American actor, singer and dancer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2016, Latimore released his debut album ''Connection''. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in '' Black Nativity'', ''Th ...

Vondie Curtis-Hall Vondie Curtis-Hall is an American actor, screenwriter, film director, and television director. As an actor, he is known for his role as Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama ''Chicago Hope'' created by David E. Kelley and as Ben Urich in the ...

, and rapper

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

Plot

After his mother, Naima, is evicted from their

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

apartment, teenage Langston is sent to spend the holidays with his estranged grandparents in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He talks to a man called Isaiah on the bus.("

Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child", also "Motherless Child", is a traditional Spiritual. It dates back to the era of slavery in the United States. An early performance of the song was in the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. "Blue Ge ...

") When Langston arrives in the city, he just misses his grandparents and, shortly after, is robbed of his possessions. Entering a hotel to get directions to his grandparents' place, Langston is accused of trying to take a wallet and is quickly taken in by the police. While in the holding cell, he meets a man who makes fun of him for stealing wallets. Shortly after, Langston is reunited with his grandfather, the Reverend Cobbs, who takes him to his home. On the way, they meet a pregnant lady called Maria. Langston is taken aback by the comfortable home his grandparents live in and by the fact that they know nothing about him and his mother Naima. In an attempt to bond with Langston, the Reverend shows him a pocket watch with a personalized inscription from

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

Langston pockets the watch. Maria & Jo-Jo come carol singing ("

Silent Night "Silent Night" (german: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht", links=no, italic=no) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an ...

") and Langston is told they are homeless. In the morning, Langston tries to pawn the watch. However, the pawnshop owner is a friend of his grandfather and refuses to buy it, telling Langston to treasure the pocket watch and return it to his grandfather. Outside the pawnbroker's shop, Langston meets the man he met in the holding cell. The man is passing out flyers for the pawnbroker and offers to procure for him whatever he wants. Langston tries to talk to his grandmother, Aretha, about why his mother left. She denies that he was the cause of the rift but says that his father was the reason behind their estrangement. Before leaving for church, Langston finds the man from the jail cell, the same man from the corner of the pawnshop, and asks him for a gun. The man then tells Langston to meet him at the same spot later at night. Despite his reluctance to attend church, Aretha and the Reverend pressure him to attend church as they are performing Langston Hughes' play ''

Black Nativity ''Black Nativity '' is an adaptation of the Nativity story by Langston Hughes, performed by an entirely black cast. Hughes was the author of the book, with the lyrics and music being derived from traditional Christmas carols, sung in gospel st ...

''. Langston sees the man from the pawnshop & Maria and the young man from an earlier scene. While there, Langston falls asleep and dreams that he is a part of the nativity (" Sweet Little Jesus Boy"), with Maria, a young pregnant woman he met earlier, playing the part of the virgin Mary. Waking up, Langston leaves the church to meet with the man he met in the jail cell. The man shows him the gun he wanted and Langston takes it from him and then tries to hold him up, asking him to give him a ring he spotted earlier in the display case and all the cash in the pawnbroker's cash register. Instead, the man quotes ''A Dream Deferred'' to him and reveals that he is Langston's father, Tyson. A passing police officer spots the two and enters, but Langston's father convinces him that they were only having an argument and Langston was only trying to convince him to go to church with him. The police officer then drives them to the church where they meet Naima. Inside the church with his father and mother, Langston asks his grandfather what happened between his parents. The Reverend confesses that he gave Tyson five thousand dollars to leave Naima and Langston, hoping that Naima would return to her parents. Instead, Naima found out what her father had done and left with Langston, cutting off both Tyson and her parents. Naima tries to leave with Langston, but he urges her to forgive her parents. She does, and the entire family is reunited at last. (" As")

Cast

as Reverend Cornell Cobbs * Angela Bassett as Aretha Cobbs *

as Tyson/Loot *

as Naima Cobbs *

as Angel *

as Pawnbroker *

as Isaiah *

as Langston * Rotimi as Officer Butch McDaniels * Luke James as Jo-Jo/Joseph * Grace Gibson as Maria/Mary

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval of 50% based on 90 reviews, and an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "It's sweetly amiable and solidly performed, but ''Black Nativity'' suffers from director Kasi Lemmons' heavy-handed treatment of its celebrated source material." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades

References

External links