|, July 11, 2011 This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Every time it seems Mr. Terrell's Greer could not possibly love himself more, he reveals new levels of vanity and egotism in very funny scenes. That small line says so much about the spectrum of sexuality--all forms of sexual preference comes from a natural, instinctive place, but the overwhelming diversity of sexual identity that exists goes to show that "normal" hardly exists in the first place. It’s shot (almost) completely in grainy black and white, it is entirely divorced from the racial conflicts that have informed many of his films, it’s less than 90 minutes, and it’s an intimate character-study with only four main players. Just confirm how you got your ticket. Nola is a graphic artist in Brooklyn who is loved by Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell), a successful actor enchanted with himself and who finds Nola a fabulous bit of decoration; Mars Blackmon (Mr. Lee), a nervous joker who seems not to like himself very much, and Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks), who is emotionally mature - and very vulnerable. Nola was different because she was a studied, amused, and distanced subject with a being apart from Lee’s vision, even as he created her. Regal Nola Darling: Character Analysis: She's Gotta Have It. Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password. The film probes important and intriguing questions, even if the characters are not explored as thoroughly as they might have been. Get info about new releases, essays and interviews on the Current, Top 10 lists, and sales. The situation is not entirely comic; while the film satirizes selfishness, sexual stereotypes, role-playing among black men and other follies, its presentation of Nola turns serious, even poignant. No wonder. Finally, there's Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee), a timid geek with a heart of gold. Please click the link below to receive your verification email. As searingly honest, hilarious and lively as it was when it was released in 1986, this film does so many things ahead of its time. For it was Lee, a graduate of the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (which also produced Down by Law director Jim Jarmusch), who brought black cinema back to the forefront of American consciousness, simultaneously reintroducing black characters, reinvigorating an independent mode of production, and creating a new aesthetic. Her Nola is too intelligent not to realize that her determination to be independent may isolate her from a world she wants only to embrace. This ingenuity has since inspired other filmmakers, low on financing but high on ideas and the desire to continue a tradition. Combining humor, drama, and documentary techniques, Lee has created an energetic film that takes an unflinching look at modern sexuality -- specifically black sexuality. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. This was a condition that Lee rectified in perhaps the film’s most significant contribution to black cinematic history: real people with real lives, touching. | Rating: 3/4 Don't have an account? |, March 17, 2008 In She’s Gotta Have It, most of the talking heads are Nola’s three jilted lovers, presenting jealous and possibly unreliable accounts of her sex life. In the third act of the film, a progressively-minded contemporary viewer might start to cringe a bit at the way the narrative seems to punish Nola in the film’s climax and try to resolutely “fix” her sexual deviancy, but Nola’s figurative snatching-of-the-mic at the last minute to speak truth feels like an absolute revelation, preternaturally nonjudgmental and celebratory of the sexual spectrum. One of the opening shots of the film is a slow zoom-in on the bed, which at first seems to be inhabited by multiple heaving bodies before Nola alone emerges from the covers.