Black and White (2000)

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Rating: R
Release Date: Apr 5, 2000
Running Time: 98 mins. (V)
Country Of Origin: United States
synopsis
When high school hipster Charlie and her friends start hanging out with Harlem's aspiring rap artist Rich Bower and his group, the American Cream Team, each faction starts to ponder the other's true motivation. Fascinated by this collision of cultures, documentary filmmaker (and former rich girl herself) Sam Donager attempts to capture the phenomenon on camera with the help of her gay husband Terry. Meanwhile, NYPD detective Mark Clear wants revenge on his heartless ex-girlfriend Greta, who dumped him for Dean, a black star basketball player and a friend of Rich Bower. Before long, everyone wants something from someone else. As the chain of casual acquaintance comes full circle, worlds collide -- black and white, wealthy and wanting, uptown and downtown, innocent and malevolent until it becomes clear that nobody is really who he or she seems to be.
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December 18, 2000
It starts in New York's central Park. Drug lord turned hip-hop empire builder Rich Bower, played by Power of Wu-Tang Clan, leans against a tree while two rich white teens (Bijou Phillips and Kim Matulova) use him as a sex sandwich.

Connoisseurs will recognize this grab-ass moment as the work of James Toback, a writer and director ("Fingers," "Two Girls and a Guy") who doesn't observe the niceties of Merchant-Ivory cinema. Still, this largely improvised flick about white obsession with black… Continued

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Having written "Bugsy" (1991) and "The Gambler" (1975) and having directed what some feel was among the great debuts in American film--"Fingers" (1977)--James Toback carries around a credibility that's belied by almost every movie he's subsequently made (most recently 1998's "Two Girls and a Guy").

Add to this his much-publicized private life and views thereof--the basis, presumably, for his overrated "The Pick-Up Artist" of 1987--and you can't help but view every Toback project as the Freudian… Continued