Pretty Red Dress (Dionne Edwards)

Pretty Red Dress Dionne Edwards

I was born in Lambeth, South London Womens Hospital, as it was known, by the frozen goods in Tescos as it is now. I had a brief life in tooting, but by the time I was five, we were back, just off Poynders estate. One of our neighbours told Mum that we were the first non-black family in 20 years, mixed race. We left Lambeth in 2010. I have been working in a Lambeth local college since 2008, and as I type this, I have handed in my notice and will be out in a couple of weeks.

There is no one in this film who, in a sense, I haven’t met, gone to school with, or been part of a wider community within this film. And the issues as the world evolves between generations and identity becomes ever more fluid are all here with all heart and no Judgement.

Recently released from Prison, Travis is ostensibly our lead, but that is short-lived. It’s not a story of a macho ex-con feeling pressured back into criminal life; it’s a story of a man trying to keep his sense of self and joy when it opposes what his community and family expect. Natey Jones plays this with elements of slapstick, tears, and drama, but ultimately, the conviction of every level you cannot feel for his troubled soul.

Kenisha, his daughter, struck so many chords her permanence could be in the proms. Conflicted and defensive of the world and its accusations and insinuations, I argued with a colleague at the college I used to work at. He asked about all the progress and sessions on inclusivity the college had. I said, “Over ten years, the only thing I’ve seen is more openly gay students, and even then, it’s only if they go there”, pointing to the fourth floor where the art college alumni sat. he ignored the class barrier and the filtration and declared it a win…I’m a straight pale male…I don’t. Kenisha is not an idol she represents. And does it mean you can’t help but care?

A lot of the focus within the press has, quite naturally, been on Alexander Burke, and in her role at Candice, she portrays a range of acting that is pitch-perfect and totally in sympatico with her singing talents. On the one hand, she strives for a sense of perfection to be tina turner, but the reality that even Tina Turner was not tina turner seems to escape her. At turns, the heroine and others have a viscous streak for control. Candice is striving in each scene, and the family and roles within it tumble organically around while never really conflicting, showing the family’s heart.

The intimacy is not just emotional in this film. The sex scenes are raw, not in nudity, so much as awkward and melancholy. It’s emotional. It’s real. And vibrant and passionate, and at other times. Simply not.

I have not referred to the community of the actors as black quite deliberately in this review, but being prose, I feel I should. The film is admirable in its lack of exposition, which so many features get slowed and sluggish with. I witnessed and recounted this aspect of Life first-hand throughout my childhood. The film does not go down cliches of crime and justice but rather the realities of a confused family with aspirations and young teens in society. Dealing with the intrinsic issues of black life in Lambeth, personally and within the community. I don’t think I have ever been as annoyed by a young black professional as Travis’ brother since Desmond’s eldest became a banker.

The ending has a certain optimism, but it’s one of life for all honesty and integrity preserved. It deserves to be seen on the big screen and shows the power of cinema beyond the scrappy hero exploding today we are so used to. Search it out