Radha Blank writes, directs, and stars as herself in her first film, The 40-Year-Old Version. She plays a struggling playwright aiming to reinvent herself as a rapper at 40. The film draws from Blank’s own experiences; Her apartment is used in the film along with her late mother’s artwork and her father’s jazz. Even her stage name in the film, RadhaMUSprime, is the same label under which Blank created her own mixtape.
The most striking feature of Blank’s movie is that it’s a 35 mm black and white film. Shots are silvery like old Hollywood. Blank’s cinematographer says “Radha felt that a lot of other groups had their black and white, French New Wave, Noire or whatever it may be. However, most of the touchstones [of Black cinema] are in color so we don’t get to see ourselves presented in the glamourous filmic silver beauty of black and white”. Blank also wanted to show how New York really looks at night. I’ve never been, but what she captured is beautiful in black and white, especially the twinkling city lights. With the noise of color gone, there is more emphasis on camera. One shot peeks between a bookshelf as we spy on an intimate conversation between lovers. Another handheld shot follows Blank on the streets as if we’re right behind her. There are interview-like shots where the frame moves to only include the characters. These shots make the story feel more personal. We latch onto the characters, the little details of their side plots and conclusions, as we try to find familiarity in the foreign feel of a black and white picture. Peter Kim, who plays Blank’s best friend in the film, is particularly a witty, deeply loyal, and entertaining character to watch. Coming at a close second are the lively youthful cast of students Blank teaches in the film.
On the surface, the elements of Blank’s story are familiar. It’s a story of finding your voice, fighting as the underdog, romantic entanglements, and loyal best friends. Beneath this delightful hodge-podge, Blank explores more universal ideas. In the film, a white producer calls Blank’s play “inauthentic”, expecting more darkness and pain in her black characters. In a lot of art worlds, especially theater, established and powerful people in these worlds called gatekeepers control what kinds of stories are told. The biases of these gatekeepers’ limited perspectives and are preferential to what a white audience can relate to. In Blank’s real life, she often struggled to tell her own stories to the public because of this. In one of my favorite scenes, RadhaMUSprime rhymes a track called “Poverty Porn” about her struggles with these gatekeepers. The film ends with Blank calling out her producer and audience and walking away from her play’s after-party to meet her love interest. We never get to see full public success with Blanks’ play or hip-hop career in the film, so we’re left to consider that maybe success doesn’t have to depend on the gatekeepers who lock the gate before you. In an interview, Blank says “Maybe the success is having a best friend who will go to the ends of the Earth to create an opportunity for you, you know? The success is having your students show up every day. Success is, you know, having this young lover who sees the beauty in you when other people may have put you out to pasture”. Despite being 40 years old, Blank is finding critical acclaim in her brilliant new film and making us all reexamine who we’re letting control our own definitions of success.
4/5 STARS