A young man, Aren, is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier.
Justice Smith
Aren
David Alan Grier
Roger
An-Li Bogan
Lizzie
Drew Tarver
Jason Munt
Michaela Watkins
Masterson
Aisha Hinds
Gabbard
Tim Baltz
Officer Miller
Rupert Friend
Mick
Nicole Byer
DeDe
Zachary Barton
Collector #2
Anthony Coons
Collector #3
Robbie Troy
Collector #4
Gillian Vigman
Andrea
James E. Welsh
Patron (as James Welsh)
Mia Ford
Lacey
Eric Lutz
Brad
Kees DeVos
Ryan
Aaron Coleman
Barber
Chase Ryan Jeffery
Beau
Moe Irvin
James "Jim" Crampton (as Moe Irvin)
Ethan Herisse
Dashawn
Nozipho McLean
Lily
Isayas Theodros
Antoine (as Isayas J. Theodros)
Gregory James Cohan
Guard (as Greg Cohan)
Gregor Manns
"Big" Marcus Dunham
Toni M. Youngblood
Operator #1 (as Toni Youngblood)
Reginald James
Operator #2
Jeremiah Birkett
Jerel
Aaron Jennings
Kwame
Vinny DeGennaro
Bouncer
Christina Pascucci
Anchor
Bianca Crudo
Claire
Chris Attoh
Ghanaian Businessperson
Michael Andrew Baker
Farmer
Floyd Anthony Johns Jr.
Brutus
Girvan 'Swirv' Bramble
Kyle
Farelle Walker
Tonya
April McCullough
Brittany
Diana Cabuto
Receptionist
Director, Writer
Kobi Libii
May 1, 2024
5
I think that for satire to work, you have to be able to ensure that the audience is on board with the underlying premiss it's trying to achieve. Despite a decent effort from Justice Smith's "Aren" (and his impressive collection of knitwear) I just wasn't. Relying on long forgotten (if, indeed, they were ever actually known in the first place) tropes about racial stereotyping - and not just those from an African American point of view, makes this actually quite an offensive film to watch. Perhaps I am overthinking it, but I found absolutely nothing here with which I could relate - sarcastically or otherwise. The comedy, such as it is, is entirely contrived and the romantic elements between "Aren", "Lizzie" (An-Li Bogan) and "Jason" (Drew Tarver) are badly written and frequently cringe-makingly acted out. Peppering the thing with a few "Harry Potter" style magical effects and adding the benign characterisation of "Barber" (Aaron Colman) so that this "Society" can spend their entire time trying to "fix" the problems of their hapless and hopelessly out of their emotional depth white contemporaries just falls flat. It simply isn't funny. If a load of white folk got together and decided to make a movie about a group of innately obsequious and subservient non-white people, it would (and should) be banned. This is a clumsy and unfunny reinforcement of flawed values seen from an wholly unrealistic perspective and I struggled to sit through it, then wondered just why I bothered. Maybe it will resonate if you are American? I hope not.