Rick Schroder & Nate Parker

Half cardboard and half flesh-and-blood, the film version of Tim Tyson's memoir "Blood Done Sign My Name" reminds us just how difficult it is to tell a story without that story turning into a storybook.

Tyson grew up the son of a Methodist minister.

In 1970, the year in which writer-director Jeb Stuart's film is set, the Tysons moved to Oxford, N.C., a long, stubborn way from the tumult of the Southern civil rights movement. In a style many have likened to "To Kill a Mockingbird," young Tim's eyes are opened by the bloody history catching fire around him.

Primarily this is a tale of two leaders. Tim's father, Vernon, a progressive trying to push his congregation forward into an integrated future, is played by Rick Schroder (formerly known as Ricky, back in his "Silver Spoons" days).

At heart, though -- and the film would've benefited, I think, from a stronger focus in this direction -- "Blood Done Sign My Name" follows the awakening of Ben Chavis (Nate Parker), who teaches English in the local all-black Oxford school.

When Chavis' cousin is murdered over an Emmett Till-like incident, the town explodes. Chavis organizes a freedom march to Raleigh; he went on to head the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and organize the Million Man March.

The movie has the advantage of truth, undercut by the disadvantage of docu-dramatic shortcuts. Stuart, who worked on the screenplays of "Die Hard" and "The Fugitive," among others, likes his story beats neat and square, and unfortunately, he directs the same way. The results are scrupulously balanced in terms of who we spend time with, but after a while you may have the urge to ask the adapter/director: What did you think of these events?

The actors do a lot to dimensionalize the material. Parker's Chavis is especially sharp, creating a man with a subtly burning fuse. He is a major actor in the making (if he gets the right roles). Schroder's man of the cloth holds his own, though as written he's more a walking homily than a rounded human being.

Stuart begins and ends his picture with documentary footage of the real-life Oxford, N.C., subjects reflecting on the events of 1970. They're the truest thing in the film, vibrant and alive.

 

     RSS

 

"Blood Done Sign My Name" Movie Trailer

 

Recent Movie Reviews - Films in Theaters

 

DiCaprio & Ruffalo

Shutter Island
Leonardo DiCaprio & Mark Ruffalo in Shutter Island

A U.S. marshal (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his amiable new partner (Mark Ruffalo) hunt for an escaped patient at an insane asylum run by a shifty doctor (Ben Kingsley), whose island clinic may harbor sinister doings in the name of progressive health care.

 

Paul Bettany & Jennifer Connelly

Creation
Paul Bettany & Jennifer Connelly in Creation

There is angst, lots of it, for Paul Bettany to muck around in as he portrays the great evolutionist Charles Darwin. Not that angst is bad, but here it makes a muddle of Darwin's story. Even the sheer beauty of the setting and the attention to detail in re-creating his family life is not enough.

 

Parker Posey & Demi Moore

Happy Tears
Parker Posey & Demi Moore in Happy Tears

Writer-director Mitchell Lichtenstein's second feature relays a bittersweet story of two grown sisters (Parker Posey and Demi Moore) who return to their girlhood Pittsburgh home to take care of their increasingly difficult father (Rip Torn), who has shacked up with his alleged 'nurse' (Ellen Barkin).

 

 

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for an intense scene of violence, thematic material involving racism, and for language).

Running time: 2:08.

Cast: Rick Schroder (the Rev. Vernon Tyson); Nate Parker (Ben Chavis); Afemo Omilami (Golden Frinks); Nick Searcy (Robert Teel); Michael Rooker (Billy Watkins).

Credits: Written and directed by Jeb Stuart; produced by Jeb Stuart, Mel Efros and Mari Stuart. A Paladin release.