**This post contains MINOR spoilers**
The Story- After her brother Chris’ (Edem Atsu-Swanzy) death, Vicaria ( Laya DeLeon Hayes) promises to cure the disease that destroyed her family. The disease? Death. Vicaria plans to resurrect Chris, and she succeeds, but the results are disastrous.
Vicaria runs into trouble with a gang leader named Kango (Denzel Whitaker) and his ruthless right hand man, Jamaal (Keith Holliday). Meanwhile, Chris’ rampage grows more violent and bloody, as Vicaria fights to protect a pregnant Aisha (Reilly Brooke Stith), Jada (Amani Summer), and her father, Donald (Chad L. Coleman).
My Thoughts- Vicaria is a smart kid, the mad scientist with a good heart. She fiercely stands on what she believes in, and there’s no denying Laya DeLeon Hayes delivers a strong performance in the leading role. Yeah, she’s a smart-ass, who’s quick with clever comebacks, but Vicaria’s environment punishes anyone with a passive personality, so she has to be tough to survive.
Amani Summer brings a positive spark to the cast. She’s sassy, and her peculiar friendship with Chris’ is ironically hilarious. This carefree little girl is friends with The Monster, and for the vast majority of the movie, Jada is really the only person, who Chris consistently communicates with for some kind of normalcy.
Chad L. Coleman has one of the big highlights here, during the scene, where Donald and Vicaria are at a meeting with Vicaria’s teacher, Mrs. Kempe (Beth Felice). You can see the fire in his eyes, and really hear the anger in his voice, as he’s tearing into Mrs. Kempe. A really good scene that shows a supportive and loving father standing by his daughter, and Coleman delivers a good emotional performance overall.
Donald is a broken and exhausted man working two jobs. He developed a drug habit to cope with the loss of Chris and his wife. The scene, where Vicaria finds a picture of Chris face down in his room was a nice touch. You have to believe Donald couldn’t handle looking at the picture, because it’s just too painful.
TABGAHM pushes the idea that death is a disease, a disease that causes catastrophic emotional damage. Donald is struggling to be the leader and the provider that Vicaria needs. Vicaraia is trying her best to live a normal life, but she’s angry, because death has taken so much away from her. Add in the fact that she’s still a kid, and you can understand why Vicaria is having a lot of trouble processing losing her brother to gang violence and her mother’s death.
The struggles and setbacks in the black community are prevalent throughout TABGAHM, and the social commentary works. Vicaria mentions Valerie Thomas as an inspiration, and while she has big goals and high expectations for herself, Vicaria is not ignorant to the fact that she lives in a rough neighborhood.
There’s a scene, where Aisha is trying to stress the importance of knowing the differences between the truth and lies for Freeman (Dale Cordice Jr.). The problems with public schools presenting a fabricated version of history, and to illustrate the differences between the truth and lies, Aisha shows Freeman two books: one on Malcolm X, and another book on Christopher Columbus. Aisha also stresses the importance of learning to Jada, pushing a routine for her to learn the alphabet.
Vicaria tries to help one of the neighborhood kids named Jerome (Ellis Hobbs IV). She wants to steer him away from Kango and his gang, but Jerome feels the need to join the gang because of a lack of options. As a child, Jerome is still smart enough to know he’s in shark infested waters, and no one is coming to save him.
Vicaria scolds Kango for poisoning and flooding the community with drugs, but Kango’s simple counter argument is, that he’s just a product of his environment. Kango is cold hearted. He knows he can capitalize off of being a drug dealer and a respected and feared man, who doesn’t care about taking or ruining lives, while lining his own pockets.
The Angry Black Girl And Her Monster is a refreshing and inventive version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a brutal and gory tale of vengeance, featuring an emotional story about the hardships of dealing with death. Laya DeLeon Hayes is fantastic in the leading role. And TABGAHM doesn’t hold back on the bloody gruesomeness and gross out moments. It’s more than enough to pull a reaction out of you, especially the scenes, where Vicaria is preparing Chris for the big resurrection.
I’m glad writer/director Bomani J. Story decided to take the path for a happy ending. Severe mistakes were made, lessons were learned. Vicaraia’s life would’ve drastically changed either way. But the ending really balanced things out for a film that’s heavy on a harsh reality, and a seemingly never ending cycle of death and hopelessness.
Rating- 8/10
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