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Babymother

1998, Movie, R, 82 mins

Babymother: Review

BABYMOTHER
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A fresh and spirited fairy tale in which an unwed, unemployed mother from the projects becomes a star though spunk, determination and cheerfully trashy style. Nita (Anjela Lauren Smith), an English-born girl of Caribbean descent, wants desperately to be a dance hall queen. Her boyfriend, Byron (Wil Johnson) — a successful local musician and the father of her two children — encourages her ambitions when it suits him and ignores them when it doesn't, a source of considerable friction between them. Nita is a disappointment to her mother, Edith (Corinne Skinner Carter), who wishes Nita were more like her considerably older and more conservative sister Rose (Suzette Llewelyn), but Edith still helps out by watching the children while Nita dances all night. Two crises strengthen Nita's resolve to make something of herself: Her mother dies suddenly, and she has a devastating fight with Byron right before he leaves for a U.S. tour. In the great tradition of "Hey kids, let's put on a show," Nita rounds up best friends Yvette (Jocelyn Esien) and Sharon (Caroline Chikezie) and starts pulling together an act, one outrageously tight, bright and garish costume at a time. Set in the Harlesdon neighborhood of London, ground zero for British reggae artists, this rousing quasi-musical features a series of rousing musical numbers (some on stage, some in the streets) and beaucoup booty-shaking alongside a blinding-glimpse-of-the-obvious message about sisters doing it for themselves. Smith is a hugely charismatic performer, a sloe-eyed beauty with wicked hips, lips and fingertips; her girlfriends are pretty racy numbers, too. Unlike the grittier, Jamaican-made DANCEHALL QUEEN, there's not a serious bone in this brightly colored fable's body. But it's so winning that only a killjoy would dare complain. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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