(:)(:)(:)(:) for 40-Year-Old Version directed, written by and starring Radha Blank. This is a fantastic movie: cutting edge, funny, smart, incisive. I could watch 4 seasons of Radha Blank’s Life. Strongly autobiographical but fiction, playwright (Movie Character) Radha Blank Feels on the brink of being washed up as she approaches 40. Refusing to Stoop to write “poverty porn,” Her success as a celebrated playwright under 30 has petered out even as she questions her attractions as a woman. She is teaching drama to high schoolers. She starts to re-imagine herself as a rapper which launches her on a strange (And highly comic) exploration taking her to other boroughs of New York just as she lands a very wrong production of one of her plays on Broadway.
Her friendship with her agent, Archie, played by Peter Y. Kim, is also hilariously memorable. Really the cast of characters is divine, from the hellish white Producer, director and cast members to the stoned beat creator to the homeless guy across the street who refuses to be a “magical negro.”
Filmed in black and white, which I only noticed half-way through (that’s how good the film is), it’s clear that Spike Lee strongly influenced her storytelling style. Characters on the street, humor, resentment against smug well meaning white people, it’s all in there and wonderful. Put this at the top of your Netflix queue (if that’s still a thing).