Roxanne Roxanne is a biopic documenting the rise of legendary teenage MC Lolita Shanté Gooden (Chanté Adams) who rose to prominence in the burgeoning rap scene in 1980s New York City as Roxanne Shanté. Shanté‘s foray into stardom comes amidst a tumultuous home life in Queens’ infamous Queensbridge housing project living with her alcoholic mother Peggy (Nia Long) and three younger sisters. Shanté tries to navigate her maturation and longing for independence as a young woman with the harsh disciplinary tactics from her troubled mother and the trappings of the music industry.
While Shanté‘s rise as an aspiring MC into a rap star serves as the film’s backdrop, at its core Roxanne Roxanne is a study of the trappings of inner city poverty specifically how it ensnares black women and presents a seemingly infinite amount of obstacles that complicate any and all attempts at escaping its grasp. The men in the film are a constant source of predation and disappointment. Shanté‘s father is absent and despite lofty promises of his pending involvement in their lives, he never even deigns to visit his young daughters to take them out for ice cream. Her stepfather Dave (Curtiss Cook) deals a devastating blow to the family, and Peggy in particular, when he skips town with the down payment on a house in a better neighborhood that Shanté‘s mother saved for for years. The crushing blow of this betrayal sends Peggy spiraling into the depths of alcoholism. Witnessing and being party to such betrayals from male elders during her formative years is an all too familiar reality that black women are subjected to on a daily basis. This cycle of broken homes devoid of any positive male figures, through absenteeism, death, or incarceration, and black women left in their wake left to pick up the pieces and carry the weight of supporting entire families and communities on their own like a yoke forces women like Peggy to either grin and bear it, or seek solace in destructive coping mechanisms for protection such as substance abuse or the creation of emotional walls like anger, heavy handed discipline toward their children, or cold cynicism. The feelings of disappointment and abandonment are passed down from generation to generation, ensuring its continuing perpetuation. And like those real world examples, those experiences instilled within Shanté’s psyche a dual mindset of cynicism toward male affection and a vulnerability toward men that displayed the slightest facsimile of the love she was left yearning for.
That predatory, distorted form of love enters Shanté‘s life in the form of Cross (Mahershala Ali), an older hustler from the neighborhood who at first strikes up a cordial, passing relationship with the teenager that turns into his setting his sights on manipulating her for his own nefarious intentions once her career as a rapper begins to form. Shanté’s rebelliousness and lack of older authority figures on tour to look out for her well-being (save one man named Antoine, played by Germar Terrell Gardner, who ends up incarcerated and thus unable to protect Shanté for long) leaves her susceptible to the charms of an older man masking his ill intent with lofty promises he doesn’t intend to keep. This aspect of Roxanne Roxanne’s story resonates heavily as real life examples of young black women consistently being left to fend off predators by themselves continue to surface. The lack of protection or care for black women, particularly those who come from impoverished backgrounds, begins at precariously young ages as Shanté‘s story makes painfully clear. The circumstances from which they come simultaneously prepare them for situations beyond their years but leave them vulnerable and exposed to dangers and experiences that no child should have to face.
Most of the heavy lifting in terms of the acting in the film is handled by Nia Long and Chante Adams and both actresses turn in performances that more than carry weight required of them. Long turns in the best acting performance of her career as a mother determined to prevent her eldest daughter from becoming entrapped in the same cycle she has now succumbed to using tactics that while well-intentioned, risk achieving the opposite of what she intends. Long’s performance delicately and deftly moves back forth across the line from a stern but caring mother, to one whose demons threaten to engulf her child as well as herself. The actress is able to convincingly and powerfully portray the trials of single motherhood amidst a revolving set of obstacles. Chante Adams shines in her debut as the film’s lead, at one moment portraying the responsibilities taken on by oldest children within challenged households to playing a young girl rebelling in search of a sense of independence but ultimately being out of her depth. The emotion and presence for such a multilayered character is handled by Adams with a veteran actor’s skill. Mahershala Ali is his usual self, completely engrossing and demanding of the viewer’s focus and attention whenever he appears onscreen. If you forgot why he won that golden statute one year ago, he reminds you here. The camera work and cinematography were a great asset for the film with the standout shot being the back-to-back-to-back transition shots of Shanté from an overhead angle while screaming at various turning points of her young adult life; from sex with Cross to the birth of her child to the domestic abuse she was subjected to. The film has a distinctly cinematic feel despite its being as a straight to streaming piece.
Roxanne Roxanne is a straightforward look at the challenges faced by black women as they attempt to come of age in the face of what often are insurmountable obstacles. The film is well-paced and the story is pretty engrossing, although it can feel slightly familiar, and therefore slightly predictable and bland in parts. Its strength is in the convincing performances of its actors and the great cinematography and camera work from director of photography Federico Cesca and director Michael Larnell. Roxanne Roxanne displays the burdens heaped upon black women in inner cities across America and how despite the trappings they face, they can continue to come out on the other side all the better for it.
Image: Netflix
