Blackbird the Movie
  • Storyline
  • Acting
  • Worth Seeing
3.7

Patrick-Ian Polk directs the movie based on the series of novels by Larry Duplechan, Blackbird. This film follows the young teenage life of Randy, who is a devout Christian with strong convictions while struggling with his sexuality.

Blackbird stars Mo’nique, Isaiah Washington and a breakthrough performance by Julian Walker, who plays Randy. Mo’nique plays Randy’s emotionally disturbed mother while Washington plays his father who left his family when Randy was younger.

This movie has been met with very mixed reviews. It seems that people either love it or hate it. While many people praise the films efforts in confronting a range of sociological issues and it’s ability to encourage young people to find their true self during a difficult time and no matter what problems you face, other people are slamming the movie for poor performances, dialogue, and direction.

Tackling so many sensitive topics is bound to stir up a lot of emotions and cause people to either love it or hate it. Topics that include homosexuality, abortion, suicide and child abduction while mixing with the beliefs of a typical Southern Baptist family and community that does not deal with homosexuality very well.

Blackbird has also been called “awkward” by a lot of critics. Along with the difficult topics the movie approaches, viewers might get a bit more than they bargained for while closely following the life of a teenage, black, gay, Christian teen in southern Mississippi. Language is extremely strong, there is an excessive amount of sex talk amongst teenagers, Randy has erotic dreams about men that leave a mess in his sheets, and men kissing.

To say that this movie took on a lot of sensitive topics seems to be an understatement. It is filled with a few too many clichés and stumbles throughout, but watching newcomer, Julian Walker and hearing him sing, may make this Indie film worth watching.