"Black and White" is hardly black and white – more an array of several shades of gray. It takes place in New York where high school hipster Charlie and her pals start hanging out with a Harlem crowd highlighted by rap artist Rich Bower (Oli "Power" Grant), and his American Cream Team group who are surrounded by a group of Upper West Side "wiggers," white kids who want to be black.
Fascinated by this arresting clash of cultures, Sam Donager (Brooke Shields) and her "unhinged" husband Terry (Robert Downey Jr.), who just happens to be gay, decide to capture the whole phenomenon on camera.
But that's just the beginning – it gets much more convoluted than this. An NYPD detective wants revenge on his girlfriend who dumped him for a black basketball player Dean (real life Knick Allan Houston), and a friend of Bower's.
Enter Mike Tyson, played by guess who? Yup. Tyson does, and does not, depending, generate much sympathy. In fact, the entire film poses difficult questions. According to most reports, it reaches in too many directions. It encompasses an eclectic array of stars in small roles including Elijah Wood, Ben Stiller, Claudia Schiffer and Marla Maples, and members of WuTu Clan hip-hop group.
Nonetheless, Director James Topak assisted by David Ferrara, have made what is called an "incisive look at 21st century Manhattan's pop cultures." Topak, who won an Academny Award for his screenplay of "Bugsy," is given a hand for his audacity for using non-actors in an improvisatory setting.
The film has "wonderful New York ambiance,"and humor backing it up, even though the casts' changing cultural identities may be puzzling. Basically, they serve as mouthpieces for Topak's notions about race, sex and culture, according to one reviewer. And that, alone, should be worth a look/see. It is rated R for violence, sexuality and language.
It is playing at Market Square East.
