Mark Kermode 

Black Nativity – review

A reframing of Langston Hughes's gospel play is heartwarming and festive, writes Mark Kermode
  
  


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You'd have to be pretty full of seasonal humbug to resist this spirited screen homage to Langston Hughes's "gospel song play" which was first performed off-Broadway in 1961, and has since become a seasonal staple. Jacob Latimore plays Baltimore teen Langston, sent to stay with his estranged grandparents in New York when his mother receives an eviction notice. Uncomfortably ensconced with the proud Reverend Cornell Cobbs (Forest Whitaker) and his glowing wife Aretha (Angela Bassett), Langston scorns the open doors of the church in favour of the mean streets of Harlem, wherein he hopes to solve his mother's financial woes and discover the truth about his absent father. Kasi Lemmons, who did such a great job directing Eve's Bayou in the 1990s, brings warmth and passion to the unashamedly schmaltzy and contrived proceedings, flowing freely between song and dance and drama, climaxing in a celebratory service which will have you tapping your feet, wiping your eye, and loving your neighbour as yourself.

 

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