iTunes Exclusive Episode Dear White People

The following is a sooner orgator production.
Yet our best trading, best educated, best equipped, best prepared troops refused to fight.
Better to take the scene that they would rather switch.
Welcome Empire member or members.
If you are hearing my voice, it means a couple of things.
Number one, it means you've at least once in your lifetime.
Listen to the clubhouse podcast, and if you haven't, welcome.
We appreciate you listening.
It also means it is time for the 55th.
Ah, two wounds exclusive.
Welcome each and every one of you.
Because for our iTunes, subscribers like to do some more lecture for you guys.
That's how we roll.
My name is Rob and I am the executive producer and ringmaster of this thing that we like to call a podcast.
Joining me for this particular is a man who's going to kind of close through this thing.
He's going to kind of help me get you to where you need to be.
You may know him as fun, don't go, but his mom and even don't follow him.
I'm going to call him, don't follow him to the show, sir.
If you're the ringmaster of this circus, I'm probably one of those clowns jumping out of them.
The boss will call you a clowns.
I will.
I will help you.
You want those clowns coming out there?
Fair enough.
I'm not your judge, you outwardly.
Normally, when we do one of these, it is to review something in today's no exception.
For this particular episode, we are going to be reviewing or I will be reviewing.
The latest movie, actually, the feature film debut for writer, director Justin Simian.
It is called Dear White People.
And for me to say, it's anyone specific story would be doing other characters in this film at this justice or a misjustice.
This is actually more the story of a fictional Ivy League school,
because they can't use an actual name of one.
But it's loosely based on actual events.
Really.
The thing about it is you kind of know when you realize what's going on and what the things it will based on.
And the end credits it does show you that this, the type of thing that happens in this film happens everywhere.
And all four quarters of our country.
There is, there is a division amongst the housing on campus.
And what it all, what it all leads up to is one of the houses has a very badly themed Halloween party.
Okay.
Now, this is one of the stars Lionel Higgins, who you see on the one sheet.
He actually played Chris in the show, everybody hates Chris.
Okay.
Other people in this, Tessa Thompson, Kyle Galner, Teyana Paris, Brandon Peabell, Brittany Curran.
The biggest name that you would probably recognize from this is one Dennis Hayes Bear.
Okay.
President Palmer's in this.
I don't care.
What he does, he'll always do President Palmer's in this.
A lot of it deals with race relations.
That's the title of the film comes from Tessa Thompson's character Sam White,
who has a radio show.
It shall play music and show, break in and say,
Dear white people, and then to say something witty about race relations.
While at the same time, she is a radical for change on campus.
She winds up being what they're calling the head of house, which is like a resident assistant at this college.
And as head of house, she kind of gets to dictate policy in certain ways.
Lionel Higgins is a aspiring journalist.
You have Troy Fairbanks, who is the son of Dean Fairbanks, which is Dennis Hayes Bear's character,
who was everything thought would be the de facto head of house.
And he gets outvoted.
And he's also the ex-boyfriend of Sam.
There's a lot of stories that work together in this.
My concern going in was what I didn't want this film to be is I didn't want it to be a thing
where a guy wants to be John Singleton's higher learning.
Or I didn't want him to think he had to be Spike Lee's school days.
And that was my concern going into this film.
Because when I was reading about the film,
and there's also a subtext to of a reality show that might be taking place at this college.
What concerned me was I didn't want it to be that.
I was I was really hoping for a fresh voice and something new.
And what I found was actually a little bit of both in a good way.
Okay.
First off, background music.
That was all.
Secondly, we had the other brick in the wall.
And it really does tie into this film very, very well.
Before we go, we got to think Carl Smith and Gayler Smith from...
I was able to make this, but you know, you got there for the empire for us.
But we, I think, are providing all of us from the call-bas.
We do.
And she is very, very dear to us and we appreciate her.
And she even recognized me and knew me by name.
So that was kind of nice of her.
Because I know she sees a lot of people.
And we're heard to be able to recognize me and pick me out of a lineup.
Kind of made brother feel special.
Yeah.
From set.
Justin Simian, new voice.
He's actually going to be here in town.
He actually was here.
I'll be here in town next Thursday.
And unfortunately, I won't be able to make it, but I'm sure it's going to be a great time
Speaking with the writer director of this film.
He takes that formula from those two other films and he puts a fresh spin on it.
I love both higher learning and school days very, very much.
Especially higher learning.
Because higher learning took a very intense turn that I wasn't expecting, especially towards the end of it.
This works in that vein, but it puts a little more humor into it.
There are certain things that you get a little uncomfortable because it does deal with race relations.
And any time you deal with race relations, there's going to be tension in the audience.
This is doing a good way or bad way.
I think it's good.
I never felt like, oh dear God.
Nothing too untapped or something.
Let's just talk about the elephant in the room.
Right.
And it's not really even an elephant in the room.
It was just more of this is this is real.
Get right with it.
Or don't, you know, a lot of good character development in this film.
Because it takes place at a college.
College is a time in a person's life where you really start to learn who you are
and sometimes to learn who you are, you have to go through different versions of yourself.
And there are multiple characters in this film within the hour and 40 minutes that it lasts.
That do see different versions of themselves.
Some revert back to who they were.
Some are better because of it.
It's really, really, really well developed.
What I was, another thing I was worried about was like, here's all these characters.
How am I going to care enough about enough of them?
And what I found was this film did a very good job of that.
Where you had a little bit here, a little bit here.
A little bit here.
And it didn't feel like it meandered.
You really thought, okay, this is where it would be a good place to cut to this story.
A great flow.
A great flow within the story.
And what did you call this more of a comedy series or both?
I'm still trying to figure out how I would.
I mean, I am deeply listed as a comedy.
You could call it a dark comedy.
I just, I don't know exactly how to classify it.
Because it's got a lot of dramatic elements and some comedic elements.
And I hate to use it where drama because it's kind of a cop out.
But that's what it is.
But it's a very well told story.
There's a lot of things that kind of come at you and you're just like, oh man.
And there are other things that you're like, okay, this is how that should have begun.
I wouldn't say that I left it.
I can't say how I left it, how I felt.
Because it does get emotional in a few places, not as intense as the other two films that I've mentioned.
But it deals with it in a very frank way, which I greatly appreciated.
And without a lot of huge stars, maybe just because I'm an old guy.
And I don't know who some of these people are.
But, and so that kind of helped it move along too.
You know, you know, you know, a big fan of Dennis Hayesbear.
I just didn't.
Yeah, B2.
He's a print pop.
And I think it gives you an honest look at a college experience.
Even though it only takes place over about a two to three week timeframe.
That's it.
Yeah, okay.
Because it starts out.
The film starts out with the fallout from the climax being watched on TV.
And it kind of introduces you to the characters, but you don't really know who they are just yet.
So it goes back in time.
It starts here.
And then goes back to the first day of school and we move in from there.
But I think it was a real honest look at kids trying to figure out who they are in college.
And what they should be involved in and what they shouldn't.
And where their lives take them.
And I never saw it as a race movie, which I thought was good.
But it was enough of it that you knew that you're dealing with race for
Relations without it just being in your face all the time, which I highly
Respected.
I never.
I mean, like I said, there were some uncomfortable moments, but I never felt uncomfortable seeing it.
From a performance standpoint.
Tyler James Williams playing Lionel Higgins.
He does it with enough.
And I'm not going to tell you a lot about his character because I want you to see the film.
He doesn't overplay it.
Which is good.
Tessa Thompson is Sam White.
At one point, somebody makes a joke about her wanting to be Lisa Bonet.
And she looks a lot like her in this film.
Tiana Paris as Cocoa Conner's.
She's a video blogger who's trying to kind of compete with Sam a little bit.
And Sam's videos.
Your heart kind of breaks for her at a certain point.
Brandon P. Bell as Troy Fairbanks.
As the guy who's.
He's a child of privilege, but he wants to be more, but he's not sure that he wants to be more.
Very well played.
A good ensemble cast here.
Nobody over overshadowed.
There's already stand out of the hole in one that just blew your mind.
I wouldn't say blew my mind, but I thought Tessa Thompson's performance was very, very strong.
She plays the activist who has her own struggles.
As our dress as the film goes on, you and she was.
She's got a couple more movies coming out.
She didn't have a son of a result in Isle, which my wife is a big fan of.
She did three episodes of Detroit, one, eight, seven.
She did three episodes of heroes.
You know, no.
So she's got some skins on the wall.
She was on Veronica Mars, 22 episodes.
So there's that.
So she's got your stand out.
What would you say about the directing and direction of this film?
I thought that Simeon tells a great.
A great tale.
You know, he knows how to juggle the multiple storylines and how they weave together.
It's his screenplay.
So he knows what he wants out of his actors and he knows what he wants out of the film itself.
And I think he achieves that.
It's.
And what about the look at the same time?
It looks like it looks like a film shot at a college.
Okay.
You know, it doesn't look like a college film, but it looks like a film shot at a college.
But I really enjoyed this film.
I will say it's not for everybody.
Because there are.
Things addressed in this film that that are.
Hot button issues.
That if you honestly feel you can go into this film with an objective mind and just watch it.
And then see what it is for what it is.
Then great.
But there are hot button issues.
And the language of course is.
It's college.
So the language is going to be a thing.
Um.
It addresses.
It addresses stereotypes.
And and how they negatively affect people.
Overall, I truly enjoyed this film.
I.
I.
I don't.
I never thought.
You know, I.
No point was I looking at my watch and waiting.
It was it was entertaining and it really kind of.
It kind of grabs a hold of you at the same time.
Which will lead us into the final analysis.
The way we do it on this show.
We're not giving you stars or grades or numbers because you're better than that.
What we do.
Is we we ask two questions.
Question number one.
Would you see this film again?
The answer is no.
Then we're done here.
The answer is yes.
And it would be how would you see this film?
Would you see it in first run?
Twilight.
Matt nay.
Early morning.
Second run.
Would you wait for it on DVD?
Or would you wait for it on cable?
So that mind.
How would you see.
Would you see this film again?
I would see this film again.
I again.
I truly truly enjoyed it.
It's been making the rounds to film festivals all over the country.
It was actually first released in January of this year.
But it's going to get a a wider.
I actually wouldn't call it wider.
But a more a bigger release than it's had here.
And just by the time you listen to this, you'll be able to go see it at a local theater.
And how would how would you see it again?
I would say see this with a group of friends.
Go together.
Especially friends that maybe you went to college with.
So you can kind of see some things in this film and say,
Hey, you know, we see what you can identify with.
Because college is a very strange thing.
You know, I saw some things in this that made me remember when I was in college and going,
Wow, you know, they kind of captured that moment that I remember.
And it's due to the fact that it takes place at an Ivy League college.
You see class differences too, which is great.
I want to say congratulations to everybody involved in this.
But I would say when would you see it?
Hit a twilight showing.
Go to dinner afterwards and talk about it.
Because I think that's what this film is.
Especially when you get to the credit sequence at the end.
And you see because a lot of people are going to see the climb back to the film and go,
Yeah, whatever.
But then they're going to show you things from actual things that have happened at actual
Universities.
And when I say all four corners of the country, I mean it.
And you're going to go, Oh, yeah, that happened.
And I can see how they took that and moved it into this film.
Are they trying to be controversial?
No, not really.
I didn't see it as going.
It hit some hot button issues, but it's not trying to make a statement or be controversial.
I mean, it might cause some waves with certain people.
I didn't see it as controversial.
I saw it as honest if anything.
But go check out this film.
I truly, truly enjoyed it.
Again, go into it objectively.
Watch it for what it is.
But know that it's addressing something that's real and happens every day in this country.
All right.
You got me, soul.
Let's do the flux.
Okay.
Visit our website, please.
www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
Find our written reviews there.
A lot of stuff you need to know and some stuff you don't.
Like our Facebook page.
Look up the clubhouse podcast.
Put the word podcast on the end or it's something completely different.
Follow this show on Twitter at clubhouse show.
You can follow me on Twitter.
I'm at yes that Rob Irvin that has spelled ERV-I-N.
My normal co-host for this show.
And another producer is Chad Wormick.
You can follow him at chat npg69.
I'm at fun, don't go.
You can email me at dawn at the clubhousepodcast.com.
You can email me.
But email dawn.
If you like us to do a live show at your particular stop.
We love doing live shows.
You can email me with questions, comments, concerns.
I'm going to go pound sand.
I am Rob at the clubhousepodcast.com.
Chad is Chad at the clubhousepodcast.com.
Charlotte Parker is on Pinterest because we are morally obligated to say that.
And Jules Womick.
Just keep in it real.
Tom's saying.
Tows you rose.
Our normal show every Sunday night.
7 Eastern for Pacific is your one stop shop for all things sports and entertainment.
Check us out.
We love to have you listen.
So until next time.
For Don for the Empire.
I'm Rob.
The clubhouse is closed.
Hi, bring you Palmer.
B
Shi
One
What
The preceding was a sooner or gator production.
Get it long.
Why.
Cuz I have to.
Luna.