Crafted under the body of work of family dramas, Prentice Penny makes his directorial debut with ‘Uncorked’, a striking storyline with an in-depth understanding of how a modern-day son strives to fulfill his own dreams, while making an attempt to stay committed in taking care of his family’s business.
New to the Netflix cabinet of films, ‘Uncorked’ follows Elijah (Mamoudou Athie), who is caught between his own dreams of becoming a master sommelier and that of his father’s wishes for him to inherit the family’s barbecue business. Scene by scene, the plot captures Elijah struggling to balance school, love and the pressures of family inheritance. In as much as he maneuvers his way to the top of his dream career, the dangers of disappointing his loving father leaves a scar of uncertainty and tension, putting together the core message of the film.
Placed on a comparison score board with familiar African-American film subjects about race and sexism, legit film critics sourced from The New York Times, The Guardian and Blackfilm.com collectively tags the entirety of the father-and-son drama as a refreshing upgrade ready to be integrated alongside masterpieces found in American cinema.
Gaining momentum on Netflix as the number one film currently streaming, its entire make-up started in 2014 and at the onset of its prime stage of baking to the complete work we have now, some changes had to be made along the line.
“So weirdly, the movie idea came together quickly, in terms of the father-son dynamic. I started working on it around early 2014; and when it clicked, and it was going to be about wine, it was late 2014. But from 2014 to filming, it took four and a half years. In that time you just continue to noodle the script, right? You continue to work at it and grind
at it, make more changes and find things I’d like. One of the things that was the biggest change was early on in the very first draft. There was a different ending. I don’t want to give it away, but there was a very different ending to the movie that was there and what the time allowed me to do was to continue to work at it and grind out other parts of it that just became more interesting,” Penny told Blackfilm.com.
No doubt a well-made film to keep us company during our current state of self-quaranteine with family, it goes naturally that the premise of story is about family and how to keep it going despite individual differences.
The film stars; Mamoudou Athie, Niecy Nash, Courtney B. Vance, Matt McGorry, Sasha Compere, Gil Ozeri, Kelly Jenrette, Bernard David Jones, and Meera Rohit Kumbhani.
By: Larry Adams
