Sunday, January 31, 2010

Auteur Watch - Angela Bassett

Oh, but SHE'S not a director! Not yet, that is. But she's working on it. And perhaps we can use the Decade Theory on Mrs. Bassett's extensive acting career, but I don't know if I can do it without being cruel. The 80s were fruitful, but despite her supermodel looks she just couldn't catch on. The 90s would change all that, with plum character roles in the likes of Malcolm X and two John Sayles pics, culminating in her 1993 starring role in What's Love Got To Do With It. For some reason after that, it all slowly went downhill with films like Waiting to Exhale, Strange Days... going back uphill slightly with Contact, but then gently sloping downhill ever since. I'm still scratching my head in disbelief, but for me things couldn't be worse for a legitimate actor getting roped into a Tyler Perry film. Hers happened to be Meet The Browns. After that experience I guess she figured she could direct one of these damn things herself. Why not? She's got a 2010 release called United States. Catchy title! But they had others to pick from: Erasure, Masterwork and... well, I'll let you read that third one yourselves and figure out what's wrong with it. Fingers crossed! Here's hoping they go with that last one anyway...

No comments: