Director: Jamal Hill

Writers: Miasha Coleman, Jamal Hill

Stars: Reyna Love, Erica Pinkett, Vivica A. Fox

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Prepare the jet on someone else’s dime and link up with your bestie as we twist into Miasha Coleman’s Secret Society. Quid Pro Mo brought to you by Book of Lies.

Breakdown and Analysis

  • Trans women are women.
  • Oti enjoyed the story being told and the messaging. It brought to the forefront topics we don’t usually discuss. We love watching and supporting Black creators and were happy that we gave a go.
  • Sometimes it is hard to have difficult conversations. Films, music and the arts help convey what you’ve been trying to communicate to people you hold dear.
  • Our main characters are unapologetically embracing their sexuality. The ‘get em’ girls that indulge in the finer things in life.
  • The setup has been seen before, women pitting themselves against each other to gain favour of men.
  • The twist completely transformed what the movie was going to be.
  • KT would love to live in a world where trans characters are just trans characters and not being part of the story’s twist.
  • KT wants to feel poor when the story is surrounding opulence and luxury.
  • It is a film that minds it’s own business and focuses on the characters and their journeys.
  • Tina is the more assured character and KT believes it has to do with the fact that Tina was out before Celess was. Unfortunately this garnered hardening of the skin because kids are dickheads that grow into adult dickheads. There were semblances of bullying and when we first meet Tina as a kid she is unapologetically herself. She was happy to be in her own skin. How she was able to support herself without anyone looking out for her, we realised all the trauma she endured and contextualises the nurturing role she plays for Celess.
  • Celess refers to Tina as cold hearted. Cold hearted people have the warmest hearts and that’s coming from a cold hearted bitch. Choosing when to care because the other person may not be receptive or reciprocate that.
  • Tina felt lived in. Moments of resonating opportunity with her. We fell in love instantly and wanted the best for her.
  • Even though we could see how rough it was for Tina and Celess, we still felt a way about them conning people. KT muses it wasn’t a writing issue but more innocent bystanders being hurt. Oti started to feel this way at the introduction of Michael.
  • Tina is coming from a place of love and experience. She learned lessons the hard way and didn’t want to have Celess go through the same.
  • Oti ponders when is it right to draw the line between what and how much you share about yourself while dating.
  • KT reflects on the storytelling style. Appreciated the choices on when to flashback and provide more context.
  • It was beautiful to see the yin and yang of Tina and Celess. However Celess found it difficult to be happy for Tina when it meant their dynamic would change.
  • Tina was more aware of where they had been and, in a blink, could go back to. It didn’t appear to bother Celess as much, perhaps because she found a safety net in Tina.
  • Everything was happening too perfectly for Celess it felt like something was going to ruin that.
  • We discover through venom that Celess’ dad left because of who she is. For the mum to blame it all on her was unforgivable.
  • We’re still, even in the 2020s, dealing with moustache twirling villains. KT categorises Michael as the same as the toxic men in this film. Let’s ignore the suspicious way he happened upon Celess, and even focus on the way he reacted when he learned about Celess.

 

 

Unrelated but vital points

  • KT loves Black Twitter.
  • Convoluted storylines are where the Nolan thrive.

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