Chikan torakku: Injo norippanashi 

This 2022 Netflix Film starring Rebel Wilson delivers when it comes to comedy, but leaves you wishing there was something more.

Effortlessly beautiful and surprisingly tragic.

What seems like such a simple story of survival is so much more than that—it’s a story of family, and of war, and of destruction. It’s painful to watch, but not in a bad way. It makes its audience reflect on their own actions, and in how they are complicit in the sufferings of others as the adults in this film are. Grave of the Fireflies does not hold back from being heartbreaking, and it shouldn’t. It tells a message that needs to be heard decades after the war, and a story that cannot be forgotten by history.

The Forge is a moving story about a young man’s search for purpose. Through mentorship, discipline, and faith in God, his life is transformed from confusion into clarity, reminding us that true greatness is shaped in the fire of surrender and growth.

Set in a future dystopian United States in which water is running out, Julia Hart’s Fast Color (2018) is a refreshingly different take on the superhero film.

If you are a discerning movie watcher and/or an African-American with a modicum of Black consciousness, this film isn’t for you. It would be better to watch the documentary ‘They Fight’ to see the impactful, emotional story of Walter Manigan and the young men of DC’s Ward 8.