Ever since Lionsgate announced a November 5 release date for Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls,” talk has circulated around an expected Oscar campaign. A set of posters dropped recently that went a long way toward showcasing the female acting talent on display. But is it a contender? Could one of these ladies (or the film itself) slide into the race? Or should we expect the usual from Perry? Lionsgate did a fine job launching “Precious” on the same release date last year, but it also had a headwind coming out of the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. We’ll have to wait and see. The new trailer for Perry’s film, released today at Yahoo! Movies, is at the very least handsomely mounted. Have a look by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.
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64 responses to “‘For Colored Girls’ trailer”
Wow, it certainly LOOKS better than I expected. It doesn’t look half as cheap as Perry’s past films look. I can only hope the actual film does justice to it’s source material and that the talent involved is sufficiently utilized.
0.54 is obviously the moment that made my heart skip a beat. But I’ve gotta say, that’s one sharp trailer — great call on the two fused versions of Nina Simone’s “Four Women.”
Colour me very intrigued.
Could be a contender but it also looks like it could be trying too hard and pushing too much for it’s desired intensity. And I’m always questionable about efforts to translate theatrical works into feature length films, as a number of them generally aren’t too successful. Still worth giving a chance and paying attention towards and not completley writing off Perry.
Love the tone and vibe…all the actors look inspired…hoping Loretta Devine gets some traction with this…I’ve always thought she was an underrated actress.
The use of “Four Women” works extremely well. This doesn’t look bad at all. But I don’t see yet how it would find a place in the Oscar race.
Even if it’s good, it won’t be good enough to sneak into this race.
Looks awful.
Yeah, it won’t be “good enough” to follow in the hallowed footsteps of “The Cider House Rules,” “Finding Neverland” and “The Blind Side.”
Clever use of music aside, it has a “The Women of Brewster Place meets Precious meets Tyler Perry’s inability to direct” feel to it all.
This could go either way. I sense that the white guilt felt by AMPAS voters has mostly subsided. And Colored Girls also doesn’t have the benefit of a year long buzz campaign that began at Sundance, in addition to the still largely unexplainable delirium caused by Mo’Nique.
While i still have extreme doubts about Tyler Perry, the trailer was pretty well done
I’ve never seen a Tyler Perry film — until this month, none have travelled across the pond. Is he seriously a worse director than Lee Daniels? I ask this in all sincerity.
If I may be cynical for a moment with my Oscar thinking cap on. Tyler Perry has built a monumental forture, a successful franchise, a widespread fanbase and a fully functioning studio, all without one penny of help from Hollywood or the “establishment”. It’s only a matter of time before they embrace him as one of their own and try to either latch on to his success, or worse, attempt to claim some of it. In other words, his movies don’t necessarily need to get any better to get nominated for an Oscar. They just need to be presented as a reputable option, which this clearly is.
Just thinking out loud.
Guy, they’re about even but I will say that Daniels takes bigger risks despite his ineptitude. Perry is a byproduct of the chitlin circuit (if you’ve never seen a production of one of his plays, it’s quite the experience), he really has no discernible skills as a filmmaker.
But what do I know, his films have made 400m (not adjusted Chad) and he’s one of biggest names in Hollywood. Oh well.
Loyal: Thanks, that seems like a fair answer. Is Perry not taking a risk here, though?
The movie looks odd. I don’t know if the play is very cinematic, plain and simple. That being said, Supporting Actress is a wasteland this year and I think there could be a pretty open slot for any of these actresses to slip in. Up until now I was kind of assuming that was Goldberg, but unless they’re keeping her money scenes under wrap the trailer didn’t seem to give her much attention at all. I mean, it’s not like Janet Jackson will be the nominee from the film.
In the sense that this isn’t one of his original plays, yes that’s a risk. But it’s also very calculated, it’s not as if he picked a work to adapt that’s completely outside of his comfort zone.
There was some serious dreck nominated last year thanks to the expanded field of 10. It stands to reason that’s going to continue until this little experiment ends.
I just think there might be some dreck of a slightly higher caliber available to voters as an alternative. And pardon the pun but I don’t think AMPAS voters are going to feel compelled to award Perry a token nomination for diversity purposes.
IF somehow Colored Girls impresses the critics and catches on at the box office, all bets are off. But considering his films average a stellar 38% on RT, I can’t see it. He just doesn’t have the skill set.
I don’t know if this will gain any awards traction, but I’m very interested to see if Perry can deliver a decent film (though the source materials deserves something way more than “decent”). If he can get Oprah to help push for him (which I’m sure he will), they may have something. It’s been obvious to me since the project was announced that Perry wants to prove he can do something on the level of “Precious”, the gritty look of this film proves he wants to emulate the feel of the aforementioned. Perry’s films usually look very cheap, he’s clearly devoted a little more cash to this endeavor. Only time will tell if it’s actually a good film though…one can only hope.
I’ve never seen a Tyler Perry movie before either, but this trailer just threw For Colored Girls to the middle of my radar. Loretta Devine looks fantastic. She’s been stealing every scene in her cameos on Grey’s Anatomy for the past six years, it’s nice to see her get a real role on the bigscreen! Janet looks surprising as well!
I am probably the biggest opponent of Tyler Perry films and his brand in general, in short I think he makes junk films and false portrait of African-American interactions it’s out and out drivel. I really don’t expect this movie to be great, the only reason I am interested is the chance for Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Tessa Thompson, and Anika Noni Rose to gain some attentions. All these actresses really have been undervalued sans Goldberg and I hope this garners them some much-deserved attention.
“the gritty look of this film proves he wants to emulate the feel of the aforementioned”
It hardly looks gritty. If anything, it looks pretty high-gloss.
By the way, I realize it’s kind of the way this site leans, but must we look at every film immediately through the lens of awards prospects?
Nice trailer. A new contender…
“By the way, I realize it’s kind of the way this site leans, but must we look at every film immediately through the lens of awards prospects?”
I mean, kinda. Unless IC starts posting trailers for every major release in addition to more non award season news, all postings are more or less filtered through the award season prism.
There are 7 references to the award season in the original paragraph Guy. It’s what you do and what we respond to.
Guy – Well I’m sorry but awards prospects are very important to me. I predict multiple Razzie wins! :p
Seriously, it seems like it can go both ways but I find it more likely to be bad. Lines that try too hard to be witty or clever but no depth is promised.
Still, the trailer doesn’t show much about the purpose of the film except for the general idea so I’m keeping more of an open mind than usual.
The reduction going on in here would make Julia Child jealous.
By the way:
“…I realize it’s kind of the way this site leans, but must we look at every film immediately through the lens of awards prospects?”
In general, even coming from Guy, these kinds of comments irritate me. But (speaking strictly for myself, though I’m sure Guy/Gerard/especially Chad won’t mind me speaking for them here), while it should be noted (or should it?) that this is obviously a film awards coverage website, that doesn’t mean every film discussed or debated in this space is immediately viewed for awards prospects. But more often than not, the first word committed to print will be along those lines, because…
…it’s an awards coverage website.
Yeah, looking back at what I wrote I realize “gritty” was the wrong word choice. I just wanted to emphasize that the look of the trailer reminded me of “Precious”.
Don’t mind me — I’m having a cranky day, I guess.
It looks pretty good. Loretta Devine and Janet Jackson sure look interesting in this film as well as Whoopi.
I hope it makes buzz soon :) and reading reviews that are the ones that put a movie on the right track or not.
I’m intrigued, but what really strikes me most about this movie is the strong line-up of women, just women as the leads. Precious is really the only other recent non-romantic comedy movie, at least somewhat-known to someone like me that doesn’t typically go hunting for it, that I can think of to focus on women pretty much explicitly. It doesn’t exactly bother me that movies tend to lean male or else strike somewhere in the middle, but line-ups like these make me happy.
exclusively* not explicitly. Well, explicitly too, but that doesn’t make so much sense to state outright.
SO many of these women have impressed me in one way or another in the past. I wonder if it can all come together.
Wow that trailer made me really intrigued….
….to download the different versions of that song.
All kidding aside, I really like a ton of those actresses so I wouldn’t be upset if they were nominated, if they gave a performance worthy of a nomination. The trailer felt like it was for some tv show, I need to hear critical response before I can decide one way or another how good or bad it actually is (and how likely it is to be nominated or not.)
Looks good. I hope it IS good and that it receives an Australian release. Since “Precious” didn’t even do all that spectacularly here I can’t imagine much happening out of it, but a good awards run should solidify some sort of release. That cast really is to die for.
I really love a lot of these actresesses, particularly Kerry Washington, who was so good in “Mother and Child.”
Very intriguing trailer, though after that poster I was expecting something along these lines.
Remains to be seen whether they have something substantial on their hands or if they’re hoping that blowing enough hot air will get them in the race.
@Lena: Yeah, I absolutely loved “Mother and Child” and Washington was very good. I can’t believe how completely unnoticed that film is going to be.
I really can’t hate Perry, even though he’s yet to put together a decent film. I’m holding out hope that this film can rise above the black bourgeois values his other work propagates, as well as his overall lack of skill in the director’s chair.
This is a fantastic cast of underrated black actresses, who seldom get an opportunity to play anything other than stereotypes. All of them (particularly Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise and Kerry Washington) have elevated marginal films and underwritten characters. If the screenplay and directing is even borderline competent, they may have the opportunity to truly shine here.
As bad as Perry is, who else is giving these women the work they deserve?
@Guy: No worries. We all have them. I didn’t like the way I worded it anyway.
@W.J.: My thoughts exactly. That’s the reason I’ll watch his films at least once (usually after they come to DVD, since my mom buys them all).
Every single one of these actresses is capable of something great, we’ll see how this shakes out for them. I’m very skeptical of any praise for Tyler Perry.
I’m hearing Kimberly Elise is the standout.
I’ve hated Tyler Perry’s work from the moment he hit (I still want the 90+ minutes back that I wasted seeing “Diary of a Mad Black Women” in the theater). I will say he has shown some improvement in his more recent films, but he is not on the storytelling level of his “auteur” indie peers. And I wish he would get over his obsession with Black women as one-dimensional victims.
I howled when I heard that he was writing/directing this movie. For most Black women, “For Colored Girls…” is about as close to sacred text as you can get. If he fucks this up, he’s gonna have to go into hiding.
I HOPE he gets it right. I want to see it just for the actresses alone (esp. Kimberly Elise, who if she had been white–or looked more like Halle Berry–would have been a household name YEARS ago. She can outact most female A-listers in her sleep, in my opinion). This trailer is amazing. But there have been numerous examples of amazing trailers for shit films. Trailer editing is an art onto itself.
I’m not convinced he can pull this off. But, maybe outside of Spike Lee, he’s the only Black filmmaker that could get this film made, for better or for worse. So I guess he deserves credit for taking this on. BTW, as brilliant as Spike is, I don’t think HE could have pulled it off either (his sexism is too ingrained). I guess I’ll wait for the reviews (from critics and friends) to come in.
P.S. To Guy: your question about Lee Daniels being a better filmmaker than Perry. IMO, the answer is YES.
I saw this onstage at Amherst College and I can honestly say it was one of the most powerful theatrical productions I’ve ever seen—and I had absolutely ZERO knowledge of the play before I went to see it…
…at the same time, I cannot IMAGINE how this could be translated to the big screen (there isn’t really a cohesive story, basically just a series of somewhat related monologues by the various actresses….but it works great onstage).
So, basically, I’m intrigued yet very apprehensive and skeptical.
how about Whoop? EGOT wants another O!
that song used was absolutely beautiuful. still dont think the film will be much to shout about.
In a just world , Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, and Loretta Devine would win Oscar nominations and get more film opportunities.
Kerry gave one of the best performances by a young actress in “Lift”. Thandie was absolutely brilliant in “Beloved” and “Crash”. Loretta is always a reliable scene stealer. Kimberly consistently gives emotional powerhouse performances.
I’m hoping and praying Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls” is a box -office phenomenon and a major critical success- that will be beneficial for these actresses.
Kimberly Elise praise wouldn’t bother me, at all.
Hmm… doesnt really peek my interest, but I am certainly not a Parry fan. Also, Guy, I am not sure who is the better filmmaker Daniels or Perry though call.
Honest question: Do you really think “For Colored Girls” has more of a chance of getting nominated than “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”? I’m sorry if I sound like a broken record, but last year at least three nominations went to huge crowd-pleasers, and last time I checked, we only have two in the race right now. Lets think about not only quality, but whether or not it will draw people in to actually watch the awards this year. That’s what they attempted last year, and more or less, it worked.
My turn to sound like a broken record: the Academy has never been compelled to reward any title in the Potter franchise with more than three technical nods (and that was for the very first). Why would they change their tune now, particularly for such a cookie-cutter enterprise? I appreciate the fight you’re fighting, Duncan, but I fear you’re way off-base.
I see this getting in at the expense of Secretariat, but not both of them in the Best Picture race. Thanks, Blind Side!
That’s good to hear, Kris Kimberley Elise is one of my favorites