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CS Weekly Archive> DVD > 2/22/08
First-Hand Filmmaking
by jason Davis
Blackout
Jerry LaMothe (also directed)
 
 
Jerry LaMothe lived in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East Flatbush when the largest blackout in North American history doused law and order along with the lights. Drawing on the experience, LaMothe crafted the screenplay for Blackout, a BET movie of the week that chronicles the stories of several characters leading up to, and through, the power outage. The filmmaker spends nearly half the movie establishing his ensemble cast in their normal lives before using the blackout as a catalyst to bring out the best and worst in his characters. LaMothe’s familiarity with the community lends the narrative a sense of verisimilitude. Beats where an elderly superintendant (Melvin Van Peebles) recounts his time in the Negro League to the building’s owner (Saul Rubinek), or the tension exhibited by college-bound C.J. (Michael D. Jordan) when his buddy Tyrone (Robert Brikle-Tate) gets friendly with the local gangsters, give a sense of neighborhood history that brings the story to life and gives a sense that the world portrayed will live on after the screen goes dark. A selection of brief featurettes highlight real stories from the blackout and LaMothe’s development of the story.
Blackout
Paramount Home Entertainment
Unrated; 95 min.
$22.98
Buy it now
Jason Davis has been the DVD Manager for CS Weekly, a contributing editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and has written for Cinescape.com, MSN.com, and created the TV series Studio 13, which ran on Lorne Michaels' Burly TV network. He lives in the small space left over by his ever-expanding library of books, movies, and music.
Blackout
courtesy Paramount Home Entertainment
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