Radha Blank plays herself in (and directs) this autobiographical film. Blank is a playwright who was a hot commodity when she was 30 but now she’s approaching 40 and stuck teaching high school kids. Blank decides she needs to change things up and decides to become a rap singer. She finds a music producer named D (Oswin Benjamin), in an apartment in the Brooklyn, and starts rapping.
Meanwhile, Blank’s agent, Archie Choi (Peter Kim), manages to entice a wealthy white investor to produce Blank’s play about gentrification, HARLEM AVE. But problems occur when the promised Black director never eventuates and instead a white director (played by Welker White) changes Radha Blank’s play into “poverty porn.”
Blank shows how contemporary playwrights battle problems of having their creative vision “modified” by financial backers, actors, and social forces which the illustrates the dilemma of Black artists whose careers rely on white decision-makers.
Yes, there’s humor in The 40-Year-Old-Version. But I was confused by the mix of messages. Does Radha Blank really hate teaching? Does she want to abandon her playwriting dreams to become a rapper? Why does Blank avoid her brother? Plenty of questions, not enough answers. GRADE: C+
I saw about the first half hour and bailed. It just wasn’t working for me.
Steve, the character is confused and that affects what happens in the movie.
This is getting some good reviews but doesn’t sound at all appealing to me. Pass.
Michael, THE 40-FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION had potential, but at times it meanders.
I know some critics have raved about this, and we have it saved on Netflix, but the whole theme (rapping, frankly) is a turn off and there are so many more interesting things ahead of it on our list. I bet when I tell Jackie the teaching thing, she will cross it off for good.
Jeff, I think the classroom scenes impressed me as genuine. That could have been the basis for a compelling film. But the play subplot and the rapping subplot…just too much is going on.
The concept of a white director missing the point reminds me of an incident in the life of George Gershwin. He was having trouble getting backers for PORGY AND BESS when he was approached by Al Jolson, who offered Gershwin a blank check — provided he (Jolson) could play Porgy.
Dan, great story! The uncomfortable aspects of white donors and a white director changing an African-American play ring true.
I really liked it. First off, she is only teaching a class on playwriting to supplement her income. Many creative people teach a class in their area. Colleges look for such instructors. She wants to express herself creatively so when play writing isn’t going too well for her, she tried her hand at rapping. Here she can explore the same stories from a different angle. I thought it was funny and poignant and expressed very well how hard it is for an older Black woman to succeed, especially in rapping. Her confusion is the thrust of the movie. That’s what it’s about. There is not enough rapping to put you off. Jeff, as someone who likes short stories, I think you will like this.
Thanks, Patti. I have been having a hard time deciphering all the critical and other reactions and descriptions. I started to put it on last week, but Jackie wanted to finish one of the other series and we haven’t gotten back to it yet. Finished the first series of BLOOD yesterday. The daughter really annoyed me so much. The final episode was better because it was mostly a flashback of the (now dead) mother with the father, and Cat (the daughter) wasn’t in it much. Also watching series three of THE GOOD PLACE.
Jeff, I’m struggling my way through RAISED BY WOLVES on HBO Max. When the two most interesting and compelling characters are androids–the humans keep killing each other–it makings it hard for me to watch this series. I only have four more episodes and can’t wait to get this over with so I can move on to something better.
Patti, I liked THE 40-YEAR-OLD VERSION–especially the humor–but a lot was going on. Maybe too much more me.
OFF TOPIC
I have been adding comments on my blog as days without power continue. This is day 4 with no information from PGE on when it will be restored.
Damn and blast.
Rick, I would have thought your power would have been restored by now. You might want to call PGE, but expect long wait times!
Good luck, Rick!
In Europe we of course also have breaks in electricity or gas, but not this big and long luckily.
That was one of the points I had to learn that your weather in the USA is much harsher than here.
Wolf, after we lost power during an icy storm in 2006, Diane and I decided to invest in a GENERAC natural gas home generator. We’ve lost power a few times since then, but the GENERAC kept the lights on and the furnace running until power was restored. A good investment! Of course, it’s weird to be the only house on our street with lights on during a blackout!
By the way, I’m not able to send or receive email.
That really sucks, Rick. George got hit by the big storm but we caught a break finally. It was way to the west of us, so we got a little rain overnight and now we’re enjoying – and I mean really enjoying – 48 degrees, sunny, and no wind weather. A lot of the snow we’ve had since February 1 is melting. Unfortunately, it is going down to 23 tonight, and after another freezing day tomorrow they predict 3 to 6 more inches of snow on Thursday before changing to rain on Friday.
Good luck with your more serious problem. So glad we live in a reliable apartment building.
Jeff, it’s amazing how different the weather can be on different sides of the same State!
Rick, hope your services get restored soon!
I hope we see that we need to do work on our grids. Things are only going to get worse with climate change. So many weather events seem to knock us out now. Must be even harder given the pandemic.
Patti, I was watching some of the MSNBC coverage of the power outages in Texas. Texas has its own electrical grid and now we’re all finding out how badly it is both constructed and run. Nobody seems to think about electrical and power grids…until the power goes off.