Skip to main content

Talk To Me (2007)

Friday, January 30, 2009

Talk To Me. Feature film. (2007, 118 mins) IMDB

...The world's first shock jock....

Y

ou could do worse than studying this film. There is a classical structure. There are interesting characters. A story arc. Laughs and struggles and an absolute teary moment or two.

TALK TO ME is a biopic of Ralph Emerson "Petey" Greene--a smooth, fast talking black man from Washington, DC. We meet him in jail where he's doing time for minor crimes. He talks to his fellow prisoners as a DJ. He spins records and talks and talks. He's part preacher, truth teller, and a foreshadow of rap music.

We know he wants to get out, who wouldn't, but to what end? To the same dirty streets of crime and poverty? No, he wants something more. More for himself and his people. While in prison he meets Dewey Hughes who works as the program director a local R&B radio station. When Petey leaves prison, he's off to the radio station to get his job as a DJ--no easy task.

So we're introduced to Petey in jail, see him out doing what it takes to land this job and through several tries, he finally gets it, but it isn't easy. His first time on the air is a flop. It's just part of the story. The struggle to succeed.

Act II is his transition and rise as a DJ and with the fame an attempt to move to a higher level: nightclub gigs and television. A big moment comes when he's on THE TONIGHT SHOW with Johnny Carson. He comes out and doesn't stay much. It's a complete failure. No rising star, but in his words, he just was to tell the truth and isn't interested in being another Richard Prior.

If this film fails, it's the third act. It zaps forward through the lives of the characters until we learn of his death at the age of 53.

It's the second time I've seen this film and it's definitely worth seeing once or twice or more.

Posted 2009/01/30 at 19h34ET in Movie Commentary.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If Only We Could Agree

Monday, June 11, 2012 ... have you been accused of misspelling a word you know is correct ... S usanne O’Leary wrote an interesting article on her experience with the variations of the English language in different countries. You know the obvious ones like colour with or without a “u” but less obvious ones like travelled versus traveled. Growing up in Sweden she learnt English in school—the UK variation. In publishing her books, she read reviews where she was criticized for improper spelling. False accusations as it turns out. While I write tire and cozy, it’s not incorrect to write tyre or cosy. Same language. Both accepted. Just different. You can read her write-up here along with the numerous comments posted by readers. I found it interesting, but that’s me. As a Canadian I deal with this issue everyday. I feel her pain when she’s criticized for something based on ignorance. No fun. I was told by a boss that “data are” isn’t correct. It should be “data is.” Read
2 comments
Read more

Days 9-108: Writing a Novel—The Deep Blue Hold

November 25th, 2016 to March 5, 2017 Note: Unedited writings from my notebook for this novel. Square bracket items represent added comments. At 15:53 Office ... And so began a three month odyssey away from writing this novel, The Deep Blue Hold. ... W herein I try to explain why I stopped working on this novel. The shortest answer is I gave up. The short explanation is I struggle with mental health issues (MDD, GAD, PTSD) that paralyse me at times. When it happens, I’m not able to do much of anything. Don’t want to do anything and that includes things one might expect to enjoy. For a while I spent time trying to create some thirty-second videos that would play a word puzzle like a crossword. Here’s the clue. Here’s the blank spaces. And after an interval, one of the letters would appear until all the letters appear. A bit of a crossword puzzle in that sometimes you come to a word where crossover words give you certain letters and you have to fill in the rest. A
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 8: Writing a Novel—The Deep Blue Hold

Thursday, November 24th, 2016 Note: Unedited writings from my notebook for this novel. Square bracket items represent added comments. At 15:53 Office ... This was a Chinese ship with Chinese officers. He didn't need some damn Dutch sailor to tell him how to run his ship. ... Y esterday was a day of distraction and writer’s block as I didn’t get too far. No new pages and nothing new on the story. Right now I’m stepping back to Tuesday, trying to get my mind around this story. Would it help if to read what I have. [Draft pages of the novel.] ____ Later. What I have is okay. It’s working. Of course it needs edits but that’s for another day. I think I worked out the broad strokes for Chps. 4, 5 & 6. Chp. 4 Captain on ship Chp. 5 Family back home Chp. 6. Leanne tending to her wounds Time to brainstorm some ideas for Chp. 4. It’s dawn. People getting up for morning routine. There will be a change of watch. Cross checking containers… The captain w
Post a Comment
Read more