By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Whoopi Goldberg
Country: united_states
Year: 2013
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2319863/combined
Chris says: “A half-forgotten pop culture figure you probably never thought the world needed a documentary feature about, mid-century black comedienne Moms Mabley actually proves ideal for the format. Her career trajectory (playing to mostly black audiences until finding mainstream fame in her old age) is sheer novelty, but her status as a trailblazer (as a black and as a female stand-up) and a subversive (her likable, bug-eyed and toothless old lady persona rendered her harmless on the surface,
allowing her to get some pretty politically radical material across) makes the case for her cultural significance—you leave this film wondering why it took so long for someone to make it.
”In her filmmaking debut, actress Whoopi Goldberg not only doesn’t embarrass herself, she mostly skirts hagiography to curate a thoughtful, balanced, visually and emotionally engaging portrait. Given her own connection to Mabley as a pioneering black female comedienne of a subsequent generation, it’s appropriate that she inserts herself into the film, and her interviews with everyone from Bill Cosby and Joan Rivers to Kathy Griffin and Dick Cavett are all delightful. In addition to a treasure trove of old television clips and still photos, she illustrates her subject’s technique by matching white text on a black screen to recordings from many of Mabley’s comedy albums—a simple, obvious device, but a highly effective one, mapping out how Mabley intricately constructed her stories and their punch lines. More so than all the fond reminiscences, these sequences emphasize why Mabley, a woman very much of her time but also sneakily ahead of it deserves to be feted. 4 cats
“(This film screened at the 2013 Provincetown International Film Festival).”