Black or White

Black or White (2015) approaches race through a custody case and puts two flawed parties against each other. Elliot loses his wife. Eloise, the granddaughter they raised together, stays with him. The girl's paternal grandmother wants to bring her into her own family, in a Black neighbourhood. It goes to court. The film intends to be even handed. Elliot is an alcoholic and carries prejudices, and the other side is not flawless either. But the direction sits with Elliot, and that is where the criticism collected. Telling a story about race through a white grandfather's education pushes the subject itself into second place. Octavia Spencer plays the grandmother far better than the part is written, and she is what keeps the balance from collapsing entirely. Kevin Costner delivers a long courtroom speech that states the film's thesis outright, and that scene is separately argued about. Good for: family drama, courtroom stories, and issue driven films. Less good for: alcoholism and drug use. Anyone wanting race treated structurally rather than as a matter of individual good intentions is in the wrong film.