This was the date movie of 2016. “Southside With You” is also about a date, a first date in the Chicago summer of 1989 between the then-unknown Barak Obama (Parker Sawyers) and Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter). Peter Travers said in his review, “Both Sawyers and Sumpter are terrific, world-class charmers who suggest the powerhouses they’re playing without undue mimickry.”
First-time writer-director Richard Tanne smartly avoids any political agenda to focus on two young lawyers starting out in life. Travers credited, “The guarded, whip-smart Michelle is adamant about telling the flirtatious Barack, “This is not a date.”” The man she at first calls “a smooth-talking brother” is a summer associate at her law firm. She agrees only to go with him to a meeting at a Southside church where black residents are trying to plan on pitching the idea of building a community center. Barack says that before the meeting they see an exhibition of black painter Ernie Barnes at the Art Institute and maybe have a picnic lunch. She puts in her amount on the tab.
They walk, talk about their childhoods, and discuss issues of black identity. However, the movie doesn’t preach, not even when Barack, who tries to hide his cigarette habit from Michelle, gives his speech to the community activists. Travers said, “Sawyers catches the signs of a great orator in the making. This is a movie, very much in the casual style of Richard Linkater’s “Before” trilogy, in which nothing and everything happens.” We are watching two people warming up to each other, getting confrontational (Michelle suggests Barack knows very little about being black and female in a law firm), and deciding if they’re letting their desires dismiss they’re goals to make a difference. After the meeting, they go to the theater to see Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” a film that gets them arguing about violent and non-violent ways to solve problems. They also go for ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins and outside they share their first kiss.
Travers mentioned, “The scene, like the movie, is gorgeously romantic. Non-Democrats will probably cry foul and charge propaganda. (If we have to endure a first date movie between Trump and Melania in the name of equal time, so be it.) But Southside With You casts a magic spell by blending budding love with fierce intelligence. Drawing from the outline of a date that is now public record, Tanne imagines the details of Barack and Michelle’s conversation with subtlety and feeling.” We are seeing important people in the charming place of becoming themselves.
I remember seeing an interview with Parker Sawyers on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” when the movie was coming out. I never really bothered to see it until I realized that I didn’t have a movie to review for today. After quickly finding something that I can watch in one sitting to review, I found this to be fascinating. It’s nice to see a movie that is slow-paced and takes its time, instead of the usual stuff we see. There’s no action, no villains, just a simple, straightforward story about the former President and First Lady on their first date. Check it out if you haven’t because this is a good movie to check out.
Now that we have talked about that, stay tuned Friday for the finale of this year’s “Black History Month Movie Reviews.”
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