"Black or White": Movie Review

I recently watched a movie on Netflix called “Black or White”. It is a 2014 American drama film that depicts only the worst that a family can go through after losing a loved one. It was written and directed by Mike Binder.

In the film “Black or White”, there are many sad parts and many happy parts. The whole story is focused on an older man named Elliott (Kevin Costner) who has just lost his wife, and gets the joy of taking care of his young granddaughter Eloise (Jillian Estell), who he took custody of when her mother died during birth. When I say “the joy of taking care of…” I mean it in a not so bad way. He loves her but the only problem is, he really never had the responsibility of taking care of her thanks to his wives presence. Elliott quickly develops a drinking problem, and is later used against him in court when Eloise’s paternal grandmother, Rowena (Octavia Spencer) tries to fight for custody. She is doing this because she feels that being the age that Elliott is, he is not capable of taking care of Eloise.

For a movie that not everyone rushed to the movies to see, the acting was actually pretty well done. I think that Jillian Estell just added the cherry on top for the whole movie. Her acting was amazing. It must have been really fun behind the scenes with these actors/actresses, they must have built up a good relationship working together.

During the movie there where many heart touching moments, like when Elliott attempted to get Eloise ready for school the day after his wives death. He tries to tie her bow into her hair, and then she says “you tied my bow like a tennis shoe...” I liked how the script also added some comic relief in some parts of the movie. For example: When Elliott sat Eloise down on a bench across the street from her school, he tells her that grandma was killed in a car crash. Before showing any emotion, she asked if he had been drinking. His reply “Yes, That’s why Rick and his girlfriend ‘Fudge’ are in the car. They drove me here.” And then Elliott and Eloise start to bicker on how Rick’s girlfriend can’t possibly be name Fudge.

I learned there’s more to family than what you see. That families have way more problems than what they make it look like in public. You never know what happens behind closed doors. I believe that others will learn that life isn’t always filled with smiles and happiness. That every family has one or more people who haven’t made the smartest decisions and have messed up big time, affecting their future.

Many people would enjoy this movie, especially when you can’t find anything on TV. This movie is rated PG-13, due to brief strong language, thematic material involving drug use and drinking. But this also goes along with the lesson of the movies. I think that anyone should be able to watch this movie and also learn from it.