Spinning Into Butter (2007)

A hate crime on the campus of a New England college puts the school's dean in a position where she has to examine her own feelings about race and prejudice, while maintaining her administration's politically correct policies.

Director:

Mark Brokaw

Writers:

Doug Atchison, Rebecca Gilman (play)

Stars:

Sarah Jessica Parker, Miranda Richardson, Victor Rasuk

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sarah Jessica Parker	...	Sarah Daniels
Miranda Richardson	...	Dean Catherine Kenney
Victor Rasuk	...	Patrick Chibas
Jake M. Smith	...	Jason
Becky Ann Baker	...	Ruby
Daniel Eric Gold	...	Nathan
Richard Riehle	...	Paul Meyers
Paul James	...	Simon Brick
Beau Bridges	...	Dean Burton Strauss
Peter Friedman	...	Jay Salter
Jessi Campbell	...	Lindsey
Emma Myles	...	Anika
Enver Gjokaj	...	Greg Sullivan
DeWanda Wise	...	Claudia Thompson
Jimonn Cole	...	Tyler Hogan

Storyline

Sarah Daniels taught in a Lancaster school and developed deep prejudice against minorities, especially blacks. She decided to re-locate to Belmont, Vermont with the hopes that it will be 'all white', and gets hired in Belmont College. She does not disclose her past to anyone, but when an African-American student, Simon Brick, becomes the victim of hate crime, she soon realizes that not only will her past return to haunt her, she will be expected to be the liaison person for the minorities, as well as be asked to prepare a 10-point bullet-ed list to resolve racism.

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Plot Keywords:

minority | college | vermont | african american | campus | 

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Taglines:

I sacrificed for you people!

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Little Black Sambo (1935)

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Soundtracks

American Pie
Written by Ryan Howe and Mark Davis
Performed by Madd Flo and Richard Stites
Produced by Ryan Howe and Mark Davis
Played as theme song during end credit role

User Reviews

Will reinforce all your beliefs on race

From the opening credits, this movie made me cringe at almost every scene. The movie centers around a racial incident on the campus of a fictional small rural Vermont college. Of course the college stands in as a symbol of a majority White community, and the racial incident unavoidably escalates into a small media frenzy. Thus the stage is set for all the players to act and reveal their views on the issue of race. Of course the viewer immediately sees through the "characters", and starts interpreting the views of the writers and producers themselves. That's the whole issue about race: people are very aware of the differences between their views and other people's views about it. So, as the story unfolds and more and more stereotypes about race and stereotypical reactions to race are paraded out, I asked myself, who does this movie serve? Who does this movie not offend? It was obvious the script tries to represent both sides of the fence, in an "equal-time" manner. Amazingly enough, they even voiced the politically incorrect side, in a qualified way. Everyone in the movie is a caricature of their race. Largely, though not entirely predictable as you watch it, it still fits the stereotype of how race is allowed to be discussed in film. But ultimately, outside any moral of "racism is inevitable", or "racism is bad", the film makes no point itself. Sure, it might succeed on the level about getting "people to talk about race", but as the movie shows, why is that such a great idea?

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 March 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Spinning Into Butter

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,534, 29 March 2009

Gross USA:

$8,064

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,064

Company Credits

Production Co:

Whitsett Hill Films, Norman Twain Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color