A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy

Director: Dennis Dortch
Screenwriters: Dennis Dortch

Institute History

  • 2008 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Indeed, it is a very good day. Dennis Dortch’s daring directorial debut ambitiously charts black sexuality through a set of six deliciously amusing, interconnected vignettes that unfold in a single day in Los Angeles. A hot-button, “don’t-let-them-know-you’re-watching” constellation of intimate moments, A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy seduces us with obsessively watchable performances that make it at once familiar, provocative, and fresh.

Women unapologetically figure it out for themselves, reclaiming license to be selfish, rude, and raunchy in a playfully enduring tug-of-war between the sexes. Explicitly exploring the texture of sex, Dortch packs the film full of viscerally seductive tones and sultry grittiness as he allows us sneak-peak access to a multitude of motives of desire—a woman in bed with her boyfriend jockeys for position to get hers first; a teenager explores the limits of her sexuality in questionable situations; a boy and his ball are held hostage by interracial taboos.

Bringing overdone stereotypes about black sexuality to their knees, Dortch explodes a constellation of sexy little secrets that we would otherwise keep quiet. Packing a strong voice and innovative style, Dortch’s kaleidoscopic sketches are juicy and surprising with every step, stroke, and . . . ahem. Yes, he did just go there!

— Roya Rastegar

Screening Details

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