When her husband is sentenced to eight years in prison, Ruby drops out of medical school in order to focus on her husband's well-being while he's incarcerated - leading her on a journey of self-discovery in the process.
When her husband is sentenced to eight years in prison, Ruby drops out of medical school in order to focus on her husband's well-being while he's incarcerated - leading her on a journey of self-discovery in the process.
Ava DuVernay had wanted David Oyelowo to star in the movie but before she could approach him a friend of hers who was considering investing in the film asked an actor on a plane his opinion of the script. The actor was Oyelowo, who contacted DuVernay and asked for the part. See more »
Goofs
In Derek's parole hearing, Franie first summarizes that Derek has been in jail for 4 years and 2 months, then she says that he has served over 4½ years. See more »
Quotes
[Last lines]
Ruby:
[narrating the letter]
Derek, where are you now? For all these years, the answer was easy and clear. You were with me. Now, it's all unclear. We are somewhere in between. In between the forgotten and the foreseen, in a middle place. It scares me. Everyone around me is here, caught within each other. Mom and Rosie are here caught by expectations of what should be, by shame of what is, by dreams of what they wanted and what will never really be. I don't want to be caught. I see options...
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I'm always really happy to see films directed by African American women, period. It's so hard to get a budget, so hard to make it happen, and so few sistas writing and directing feature length narrative films, I make a point to support. When Ava DuVernay won the Best Director award 2012's Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere, I was really overjoyed, and excited to see the film. Especially since the film covers a subject I'm very passionate about, incarceration of African American men. I was also excited to see that David Oyewolo was cast to play "Brian," as I consider him one of the greatest actors in Hollywood; the Sidney Poitier of his generation. And wow, the lead played by Emayatzy Corinealdi was a real treat to see her work, she's beautiful and has chops! Add one of the most talented up and coming Directors of Photography, Bradford Young to the equation and yooooooooo! So, I'm all the way in... and yeah... I find myself in the middle of nowhere. I want to feel more, the actors are good... and the film is kind of muted, seems to be mostly shot in natural light, lots of shadows, brooding. No commentary on prison industrial complex, this film is about relationships, in a vacuum. But I want to talk about brothers being incarcerated and an exponentially greater margin for the same crimes committed by white males, but... yeah... no, not this film. So, I got over that, and rode the film for what it is, a look at a difficult time in a woman's life, who had really invested a lot in her relationship with her incarcerated husband. You know what I dug though, we get to see folks who are living on the margins in L.A., like they don't cars and have to take the bus, folks are struggling... like in reality out there. And I really respect DuVernay for letting her characters be struggling financially, which is in itself actually revolutionary for most films that have to do with Black characters in Hollywood these days... it's like it's daring to not be corporate lawyers, athletes, marketing tycoons or whatever. Yeah, I want to see a story about a bus driver, an nurse and an incarcerated brother, here played by Omari Hardwick. So why do I feel, like I want to like this film more than I actually did when I left the theater. Is it because it didn't offer a Hollywood ending for me? Nooooo, that can't be it!!!! Definitely worth seeing, but wasn't really the film I had got so hyped to see.
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I'm always really happy to see films directed by African American women, period. It's so hard to get a budget, so hard to make it happen, and so few sistas writing and directing feature length narrative films, I make a point to support. When Ava DuVernay won the Best Director award 2012's Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere, I was really overjoyed, and excited to see the film. Especially since the film covers a subject I'm very passionate about, incarceration of African American men. I was also excited to see that David Oyewolo was cast to play "Brian," as I consider him one of the greatest actors in Hollywood; the Sidney Poitier of his generation. And wow, the lead played by Emayatzy Corinealdi was a real treat to see her work, she's beautiful and has chops! Add one of the most talented up and coming Directors of Photography, Bradford Young to the equation and yooooooooo! So, I'm all the way in... and yeah... I find myself in the middle of nowhere. I want to feel more, the actors are good... and the film is kind of muted, seems to be mostly shot in natural light, lots of shadows, brooding. No commentary on prison industrial complex, this film is about relationships, in a vacuum. But I want to talk about brothers being incarcerated and an exponentially greater margin for the same crimes committed by white males, but... yeah... no, not this film. So, I got over that, and rode the film for what it is, a look at a difficult time in a woman's life, who had really invested a lot in her relationship with her incarcerated husband. You know what I dug though, we get to see folks who are living on the margins in L.A., like they don't cars and have to take the bus, folks are struggling... like in reality out there. And I really respect DuVernay for letting her characters be struggling financially, which is in itself actually revolutionary for most films that have to do with Black characters in Hollywood these days... it's like it's daring to not be corporate lawyers, athletes, marketing tycoons or whatever. Yeah, I want to see a story about a bus driver, an nurse and an incarcerated brother, here played by Omari Hardwick. So why do I feel, like I want to like this film more than I actually did when I left the theater. Is it because it didn't offer a Hollywood ending for me? Nooooo, that can't be it!!!! Definitely worth seeing, but wasn't really the film I had got so hyped to see.