The Five Heartbeats
First screened in July 2020
Director: Robert Townsend. Cast: Robert Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon, Harry J. Lennix, Tico Wells, Chuck Patterson, Harold Nicholas, Diahann Carroll, Troy Byer, Hawthorne James, John Canada Terrell, Carla Brothers, Roy Fegan, John Witherspoon, Theresa Randle, Kasi Lemmons, Paul Benjamin, Marilyn Coleman. Screenplay: Robert Townsend and Keenen Ivory Wayans. Twitter Capsule:
Certain scenes and performances muster some charm and pizzazz but writing, direction are pretty hoary overall.
VOR:③
Spreads itself a little thin (one Heartbeat too many?), but it's an intriguing collective and communal study in an idiom Hollywood mostly ignores.
