4/2/2023 0 Comments Southside with you![]() In theory the scene works, but it’s probably the only moment during the entire picture where Tanne makes a slight misstep. Barack suggests a solution and showcases his political savvy in turning their frowns upside down with a "carry on" message. The community has lost a long fight to get the city to build a community center, and those in attendance are angry their request has been ignored. The eventual meeting at the South Side church becomes an opportunity for Barack to impress Michelle in his element. Barack admits that he doesn’t remember much of high school due to a "cloudy haze." And, most importantly, he learns that Michelle is scared of not being taken seriously by their white colleagues if anyone finds out the only two African-American employees at the firm are a couple. Michelle discovers that he no longer likes ice cream after working at Baskin Robbins for too many months. ![]() Barack talks about how tough it was to live in Indonesia for a few years as a child - an aspect of his life that today is rarely discussed - and makes her realize that living in Hawaii is, in many ways, just like living in any other part of the United States. She confides in him that her father has multiple sclerosis that's forced him to use crutches, but he still finds a way to get to work every day. He is in awe that her brother was drafted into the NBA. Michelle could never have believed that straitlaced Barack would even watch Good Times in the first place, and his anecdote makes her reconsider her initial opinion of him.Īs their afternoon progresses, the two discuss everything from Michelle's real challenges working in a "white world" law office as an African-American woman to Barack's complex and incomplete relationship with his Kenyan-born father. It’s a low-key moment in the film, but Sumpter’s reaction really makes it work. became more of a three-dimensional individual. That, he explains, is how famed African-American artist Ernie Barnes became involved in the show and J.J. ![]() and, yes, you’ll hear a fictional Barack Obama say "Dy-no-mite!" - became less so as the series progressed and the writers began to explore the character’s talents as an artist. Recognizing why she was averse to Good Times in the first place, Barack reflects on how the initially stereotypical character J.J. Michelle dismisses the question, noting that her family was more into The Brady Bunch. Tanne then stages a wonderfully written moment where Barack asks Michelle for her opinion of the TV show Good Times. ![]() Picking her up three hours earlier than necessary, Barack convinces the seemingly annoyed Michelle to accompany him to the Art Institute, where there’s a new exhibit of African art on display. ![]() At the time, Michelle refused to call the outing a date, but it sort of became one - and Tanne does a wonderful job imagining how Barack would subtly make it so. Southside centers on the infamous summer day in 1989 when Barack Obama, then a Harvard law student interning at the firm of Sidley Austin, took his work colleague, Michelle Robinson ( Tika Sumpter), to a community meeting in the South Side of Chicago. When Barack Obama ( Parker Sawyers ) pulls out a cigarette and sits back inside his car with the rusted hole in the floor as the radio begins to play Janet Jackson’s "Miss You Much," you instantly realize that Richard Tanne ’s Southside With You might transcend its skeptical billing as "the Barack and Michelle Obama date movie." It’s a love story for sure, but the drama - which debuted at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on Sunday - has a lot to say about the events that shaped the 44th president of the United States and first lady we know today. ![]()
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