Is this black enough for you?!? movie review (2022)

At first, Is This Black Enough for You?!? is almost unfocused in its freewheeling structure, moving back and forth through the history of black cinema in a way that feels more personal than chronological. Of course, the never-shy Mitchell isn’t afraid to take big swipes at the canon almost immediately, noting the casual racism in so many beloved films and even children’s cartoons. However, despite his almost conversational tone, he is very deliberate in the structure of this film from the start, establishing how artistic movements come from choices that may have been made generations before. While he settles into a more chronological structure once he reaches the 1970s, the knowledge base from the first part of the film informs the history lesson. He rarely explicitly draws lines from one project to the next, but he really captures how art and culture intertwine, creating a documentary that could be dry and so compelling.

Mitchell is very careful to frame black cinema as part of all cinema, noting how it was influenced by movements that often began in white culture such as Westerns and horror films, and, interestingly, noting how often the visions of black filmmakers would frame their non-POC counterparts. Every time you think he might skip a chapter in film noir history, he finds a way to include it. It’s a stunningly comprehensive documentary, even at 135 minutes – lesser creatives would be too distracted by the “highlights” to even attempt something this packed with different projects.

“Is this black enough for you?!?” directly but also indirectly answers the question of what happened to Blaxploitation cinema. It filtered into so many other forms of filmmaking in the following decades, leaving its fingerprints all over different types of cinema and shaping culture through long overdue representation. Mitchell makes a very strong case that black cinema of the 1970s was just as formative and influential as the white auteurs who so often defined this revolutionary era.

“Enjoy what you do – it belongs to you.” It’s part of a fantastic quote at the end of Mitchell’s film, and encapsulates both the personal passion of the piece and how this whole project relates to ownership. It’s a return to the traditionally white canon of film history that pulses with the passion of its creator and the voices that inspired it. People often ask why diversity and representation matter, even making it a talking point against the supposed woke culture. I can’t imagine anyone walking away from this documentary not having a better appreciation for the need for every voice to be heard and everyone to feel represented through art. There are so many stories to tell. And we are all richer when our art enhances them.

In limited release in theaters today and on Netflix November 11^th.