3 Best Movies to Watch by Debbi Morgan

Eve’s Bayou is a Southern Gothic tale of spirituality, family, secrets, and the ties that bind them together. The story follows the awakening, both spiritual and emotional, of young Eve Baptiste. The middle sibling of the Baptiste family, 10-year-old Eve, navigates childhood while enduring the tumultuous relationship between her mother and father. 

What lurks beneath a seemingly ordinary marital conflict is an insidious betrayal that could tear her entire family apart. Eve’s Bayou should be considered one of the greatest Black American epics of the past 25 years. I adore this film because it is unflinchingly real - and honest about the sometimes rocky reality of familial bonds. 

Genre: Drama

Actor: Allen Toussaint, Billie Neal, Branford Marsalis, Carol Sutton, Debbi Morgan, Diahann Carroll, Ethel Ayler, Jake Smollett, Jurnee Smollett, Leonard L. Thomas, Lisa Nicole Carson, Lynn Whitfield, Marcus Lyle Brown, Meagan Good, Roger Guenveur Smith, Ron Flagge, Samuel L. Jackson, Tamara Tunie, Victoria Rowell, Vondie Curtis-Hall

Director: Kasi Lemmons

Rating: R

The title says it all: this is a story of love and basketball, one where the two intertwine and excitedly inform one another. Two childhood friends with a passion for ball develop deep feelings for one another. They have ambitions to go pro, but as Monica discovers how uneven the playing field really is for female athletes, and as Quincy grapples with his own needs and career, they reconsider their relationship both to each other and to the game they so love. 

Love & Basketball is a beautiful and sensitive movie that breaks stereotypes about Black love, which exists here as soft and nuanced as any other expertly drawn pairings in movies, and about Black women; Monica gets angry, but also vulnerable, hardworking, and loving. The sports component of the movie is just as finely detailed, with the energy of the matches bouncing off the screen walls. Clearly ahead of its time, Love & Basketball gets at the core of the game without losing sight of its talented players. 

 

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Al Foster, Alfre Woodard, Boris Kodjoe, Chick Hearn, Chris Warren, Christine Dunford, Colleen Matsuhara, Debbi Morgan, Dennis Haysbert, Erika Ringor, Gabrielle Union, Glenndon Chatman, Harry Lennix, Kyla Pratt, Monica Calhoun, Naykia Harris, Omar Epps, Regina Hall, Sanaa Lathan, Tyra Banks

Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood

Rating: PG-13

If you’re reading this, I can only assume you’re looking to hate-watch something laughably terrible with your friends. If that’s the case, then you’re in luck: this is the film. Like Mea Culpa before it, Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black is filled with caricatures, cliches, and just generally awful filmmaking. In one scene, to show the passage of time, Perry literally keeps the camera on the clock and fades it into the next hour. But also like Mea Culpa, Divorce in the Black features an otherwise great performance from its leading woman—in this case, it’s Meagan Good. Good lends her abused character more complexity than the film deserves. Like plenty of victims, she’s both afraid of and in love with her despicable husband, though the film, unfortunately, refuses to dive into that nuance and instead chalks everything up to bad and good, Christian and un-Christian. Neither domestic abuse nor general filmmaking is taken seriously here, so there’s no reason to give this film the time of day too.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Cory Hardrict, Debbi Morgan, Joe Komara, Joseph Lee Anderson, Meagan Good, Richard Lawson, Taylor Polidore

Director: Tyler Perry

Rating: R