For Colored Girls (2010)

Each of the women portray one of the characters represented in the collection of twenty poems, revealing different issues that impact women in general and women of color in particular.

Director:

Tyler Perry

Writers:

Tyler Perry (screenplay), Ntozake Shange (play)

Stars:

Kimberly Elise, Janet Jackson, Anika Noni Rose

7 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kimberly Elise	...	Crystal / Brown
Janet Jackson	...	Jo / Red
Loretta Devine	...	Juanita / Green
Thandie Newton	...	Tangie / Orange
Anika Noni Rose	...	Yasmine / Yellow
Kerry Washington	...	Kelly / Blue
Tessa Thompson	...	Nyla / Purple
Phylicia Rashad	...	Gilda
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Alice / White
Macy Gray	...	Rose
Michael Ealy	...	Beau Willie
Omari Hardwick	...	Carl
Richard Lawson	...	Frank
Hill Harper	...	Donald
Khalil Kain	...	Bill

Storyline

The movie is based on Ntozake Shange's play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf." Unlike the original play which featured only 7 women known by colors performing the collection of 20 poems, the movie has given each of the 20 characters names. Each of the poems deal with intense issues that particularly impact women in a thought-provoking commentary on what it means to be a female of color in the world.

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Plot Keywords:

poem | female protagonist | domestic violence | female nudity | rape | 

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Taglines:

Many voices. One poem.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some disturbing violence including a rape, sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 November 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$19,497,324 (USA) (5 November 2010)

Gross:

$37,721,949 (USA) (14 January 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lionsgate, Tyler Perry Studios, 34th Street Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original title of Ntozake Shange's play is "for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf" (complete with the unorthodox capitalization, spelling, and punctuation).

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Quotes

Jo: I went to my gynecologist, and before you, every level in my body was fine.
Carl: Baby, are you sick? Talk to me.
Jo: Tell me the truth, Carl. Who have you been sleeping with?
Carl: Jo, I promise you since... Since you and I have been together, I have not slept with another woman, and I promise you that.
Jo: What about a man?
Carl: What the fuck did you just ask me?
Jo: I see the way you look at them when you think I'm not paying attention. I see it. The pool boy in the Hamptons, my driver, the guy the other night at the ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Think Like a Man (2012)

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Soundtracks

"You Know (I'm At It Again)"
Written by Michael Greene, Eric Olson, Ric Robbins and Nathaniel Lee Thacker
Performed by Soul P
Published by Position Music Publishing (ASCAP), Mixed Metaphor Music (BMI), Butter Hits Music (BMI) and Incorporated Elements Music (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Position Music

User Reviews

Better than Expected

I will start by saying that I am not a Tyler Perry fan. I don't generally watch or enjoy his movies. I was also hesitant to see this play turned into a movie, but my husband really wanted to see it, so I went somewhat reluctantly to see how TP would butcher this play.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, the play is not something that can be easily rendered into a movie. It's more of a performance than a traditional "play". There is not a coherent plot, and even the vignettes are often incomplete stories. The men that are central actors in the womens' stories are completely voiceless and have no role in the play whatsoever. The dialog from the different characters is beautiful and elegant and haunting, so to be true to the story you have to keep the language that is used.

So, it's a difficult situation to be in, no plot really to paraphrase or "adapt" with very precise language that needs to be incorporated to keep the beauty of the piece. It is a task that a better filmmaker than TP should have tackled....but it's doubtful that anyone who had the talent AND the juice to make this movie actually would have, so TP is all that's left.

The film is choppy at parts...NOT seamlessly interweaving the added plot-driven dialog with the elegant and colorful soliloquies from the original play. Also, some of the particular poems seem oddly-placed, and out of context.

However, the performance of the pieces did give a meaning that reading the play does not. Pieces that I understood in one way when I read them took on a different and more potent meaning when I saw them being performed in the context of the film. The delivery of most (not all) of the poems and the character portrayals generally was excellent.

There is some overacting (Kerry Washington in particular stood out as overdone to me), and some of Tyler Perry's typical caricatures (if you are a light-skinned man with a high paying job....you are a bastard!), but if I evaluated this movie based on whether my understanding and experience of the text was expanded by this film, I would say it was.

Perhaps if I had seen the performance I would evaluate this film less kindly, but I think that if you come in understanding 1) it is a lofty performance piece being rendered as film, and 2) it has incorporated some of the performance aspect of the play into the film, I think you could appreciate it and enjoy it.