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What do you think about when you hear the phrase “black cinema”? If you were to base your answer off of how Rotten Tomatoes has described some recent Best Picture nominees, it’d be hard not to notice a pattern.
Take Lee Daniels’ 2009 film, for example. “Precious is a grim yet ultimately triumphant film about abuse and inner-city life.” Or 2011’s The Help: “In 1960s Mississippi, [a] Southern society girl … turns her small town on its ear by choosing to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent white families.” Or the 2014 Best Picture winner: “It’s far from comfortable viewing, but 12 Years a Slave’s unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant—and quite possibly essential—cinema.”
Luis Parrales is an assistant editor at The Atlantic. He was previously an associate editor for arts and culture at The Dispatch.
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