American Violet PG-13
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DVD Details
- Rated: PG-13
- Run Time: 1 hours, 43 minutes
- Video: Color
- Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
- Released: October 13, 2009
- Originally Released: 2009
- Label: Image Entertainment
Performers, Cast and Crew:
Starring | Tim Blake Nelson, Will Patton & Nicole Beharie | |
Performer: | Michael O'Keefe, Xzibit, Malcolm Barrett, Alfre Woodard, Tim Ware, David Warshofsky & Lucinda Jenney | |
Directed by | Tim Disney | |
Screenwriting by | Bill Haney | |
Composition by | Teddy Castellucci | |
Produced by | Bill Haney | |
Director of Photography: | Steve Yedlin | |
Executive Production by | Peter Newman |
Entertainment Reviews:
Rating: 3/4 --
While it may be about as subtle as a swinging sledgehammer, it does leave its mark.
Seattle Times
Rating: 3/4 --
[American Violet] is so compelling and intriguing that it's easy for the audience to forget they're being preached to.
Full Review
Washington Times
Rating: 3/4 --
Put on your outrage cap.
Kansas City Star
[With] excellent, nuanced performances by Beharie, Woodard, Nelson and Patton...
Washington Post
Rating: B+ --
Director Tim Disney and screenwriter Bill Haney lay out Dee's story with a minimum of fuss. They are smart enough to realize that the material is compelling all on its own.
Full Review
Christian Science Monitor
Rating: C+ --
A well-played if too-familiar story of oppression and injustice.
Full Review
Detroit News
Rating: 3/4 --
A torn-from-the-headlines tale of institutional racism and injustice in the Lone Star State of not-so-long-ago, American Violet might not be subtle, but it's certainly powerful.
Full Review
Philadelphia Inquirer
Product Description:
Based on the real-life events surrounding a military-style drug raid on the poor, predominantly black housing project of Arlington Springs, director Tim Disney’s AMERICAN VIOLET shines an unflinching spotlight on the shameful racial profiling practices of a corrupt district attorney in a rural Texas town. The raid, which occurs after a tip by a single informant (a former mental patient bullied by the police to name names), targets among others Dee, a single mother of four with no prior drug charges (excellently played by newcomer Nicole Beharie). When the defendant assigned to her case tries to pressure her into a guilty plea in exchange for a 10-year suspended sentence, Dee refuses, rightly insisting that she has done no wrong. But with the vast majority of the prosecuted taking plea deals, even Dee’s mother (Alfre Woodard) thinks she’s a fool. Dee’s heroic defiance soon wins acolytes in ACLU lawyer David Cohen (Tim Blake Nelson) and his assistant, Byron Hill (Malcolm Barrett). The Yankee lawyers team up with local consul Sam Conroy (Will Patton), a gun-toting Texan battling his own past racist demons, building their case against Calvin Beckett (Michael O’Keefe), the villainous D.A. whose tough-on-crime tactics are a smokescreen for his blatantly racially motivated tactics. Set against the backdrop of 2000’s Bush vs. Gore contest, AMERICAN VIOLET’s left-leaning polemic is clear; but the film’s core message of the fight against injustice rings loud, and is underscored by powerful performances from Beharie, Woodard, and O’Keefe--whose dramatic unraveling during Beckett’s deposition speech is, alone, worth the price of admission.
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Product Info
- UPC: 014381293821
- Shipping Weight: 0.25/lbs (approx)
- International Shipping: 1 item