215. Emergency; movie review

EMERGENCY

Cert 15

106 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, drug misuse, racism, threat

When frat boys set about the legendary tour of seven parties in one night I groaned, fearing another American Pie-style comedy.

However, while Emergency does have drunkenness, drug-taking and elements of farce, it is also surprisingly deep.

Carey Williams' film stars RJ Cyler and Donald Elise Watkins as best pals who have lined up the grandest party night in history.

However, despite their friendship, the two are very different people - Cyler's Sean wants to exploit a rich vein of fun while Watkins's Kunle is more serious and studious.

Nevertheless, once Kunle finishes some lab work essential to his PhD, the pair are setting out on a night to remember.

Until they nip into their house and find a young, scantily-clad white girl (Maddie Nichols) lying unconscious in their lounge.

They have a conundrum - call 911 and face the inevitable barrage of questions over what two black lads are doing with her in such a poor state.

They rope their Hispanic housemate (Sebastian Chacon) into their dilemmas but, between them, they make decisions, albeit well-meaning, which put them and the girl in peril.

The point of Emergency is to highlight the tightrope with people of colour walk on a daily basis.

They cannot enjoy themselves, show ambition in the workplace or even approach a white girl without judgments being made.

This is played out in discussions between Sean, who is a realist, and Kunle who has a more hopeful approach.

Through comedy and the type of movie which will reach young people, it presents important issues.

I completely underestimated Carey Williams' film during its early stages but, by its finale, I thought it was clever and thoroughly engaging.

Did you know? In the United States, one out of every three Black boys born today can expect to be sentenced to prison, compared with one out of six Latino boys; one out of 17 white boys.

The final word. "RJ Cyler: It didn’t take much for me to sell myself on this script. I read 10 pages and I was like, “Yeah I’m down.” To see Sean as a character and also see Kunle as a character, both that I could relate to, but also kind of slip into their shoes, that made me excited about just playing and reading further." Complex

 

Share this post