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ACTOR
Gabrielle UnionBilly Dee WilliamsZoe SaldanaDaniel Bess
DIRECTOR
Jordan Walker-Pearlman
SYNOPSICS
Constellation (2005) is a English movie. Jordan Walker-Pearlman has directed this movie. Gabrielle Union,Billy Dee Williams,Zoe Saldana,Daniel Bess are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2005. Constellation (2005) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
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Constellation (2005) Trailers
Constellation (2005) Reviews
Constellation is a worthwhile film.
I enjoyed this movie at the Roxbury Film Festival in Boston in August 2005. It showed an interracial family that was clearly professional and it was set in the South in a non-stereotypical way. It also dealt with an ill-fated interracial love-story in a way that I thought was realistic. It had romance, tension, and good acting from all the actors. It did have the never-ending closing that is a feature of so many Hollywood films but I don't hold it against the filmmaker. It was good to see Billy Dee Williams and Lesley Warren, two under-utilized talents in my opinion. One of the ways I judge whether a film is good or not is whether it makes me care about the characters and story and want to know more. Constellation did that. I wanted to know more about Gabrielle Union's character. We see her during her youth and hear about her after her death. I wanted to know more about the intervening years. Also wanted to know more about Billy Dee Williams' character's decision to be come an expatriate. I hope the film gets released and would encourage people who are looking for a good family story to see it.
Okay
It did Huntsville, Alabama justice. While not the greatest movie ever made, Constellation does a decent job of showing the south without stereotyping it. Billy Dee Williams has trouble coming to terms with the fact his sister threw her life away for someone she thought loved her. While tense at some points, dramatic at others, I liked this movie because of the location. The story took some time to get into. I've watched it twice now and have taken a liking to it. The acting isn't that good, the dialogue isn't capturing, and the subplots needed a little more work. The movie is still pretty good. It certainly isn't a groundbreaking film piece sure to change the world, but it's a decent "B" movie.
This Movie is glorious.
Glorious is the word that comes to mind when I think about my experience watching this movie. I saw it twice in three days at a festival in Boston and got a ticket to the award ceremony where it won. I saw it the second time to see if I really liked it as much as I thought the first time, because I was so emotionally involved with it. I liked it even better the second time and saw new things and layers I hadn't noticed before. The way the multiple characters come in and out of the story is challenging but rich. I also loved the style. I can definitely see how Constellation won't be everyone's thing, maybe it will even be a love hate thing. It reminds me in that way of Moulin Rouge because the movie is so BIG and the emotions and visuals so large--it just carried me a way. But I think like Moulin Rouge it will have its huge fan base and even those that don't like it will want to see it because its so unique. The storytelling felt classic--but also, it portrays people of color in a glamorous way and diverse way, and that won't be to everyone's liking neither I'm sure. But for me the experience was groundbreaking. As a woman of color I had never seen in films ("black films," or otherwise) that many characters of color who all had different looks and personalities without any of them being stereotypes. My Aunt rented Mahogony for me and I guess there's been nothing like this since then. I loved Gabrielle Union who played Carmel. She was on screen the closest I've ever come to seeing what I would like to think of myself up on screen. She was so beautiful and strong and stayed beautiful even after bad events in the beginning. There is a love scene, a sort of love scene between Hill Harper and Zoe Saldana that blew my mind. I've never seen anything like it, it was my third favorite scene in the movie (mentioning the other two would contain spoilers). Of course there were some parts of the characters and story that disappointed me, but overall I loved and identified with them (just like I loved the music in this movie and can't wait for the soundtrack--except for two badly out of place tracks). Overall this was my favorite movie of the year so far and in a long, long time. I took my Aunt whose from the South for the second showing and she was even more emotional, she just cried and cried. She bought the two last copies of the directors other movie, THE VISIT on Amazon that afternoon for her and her girlfriend. Rumour was Constellation comes out next Valentines day. I'll be there if it's in Boston and if not I'll go to New York or whatever to see it again. It took my breath away.
Refreshing flick with much to offer
I had the opportunity to catch Constellation at The Roxbury Film Fest, as the festival's opening night feature and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone might not be interested in familial stories, but we've all had our bouts with relatives of one type or another. The mixture of an extremely talented ensemble cast, the universal theme of family drama and how well the movie was made make this film highly accessible on a variety of levels. For those who are cinephiles, there are a few cinematic twists, especially with the use of flashbacks. Although this definitely isn't an experimental film, I did hear several filmmakers comment afterward that Walker-Pearlman broke a few of the usual film guidelines regarding character and plot set-ups. And might I add they agreed unanimously that it came together well! The cinematography was beautiful and greatly added to the feeling of the film, making the generational impact that much more vivid and touching. Part of the reason why the various pieces fit so well together is because the film has heart. The director was very much invested in making a film that represented authentically the frailty of family relationships in a black middle class family struggling to find peace despite the weight of racism, regret and bitterness that has plagued them for generations in the south. What impressed me most was that I was seeing a movie on the big screen (albeit in one local screening venue) depicting African Americans as emotionally complicated and diverse. I don't mind a comedy, sure we experience gang violence on many levels and we got pimps and hos, but where are black people at in their many skins and dynamic levels? These days seeing a multi-dimensional, black character, let alone the majority of a cast with those qualities, on a wide screen is still revolutionary. I can't wait 'til I can tell people to head to their local movie theatre to see Constellation and later hear they bought it on DVD!
uneven but moving at times
"Constellation," which begins in 1940's Alabama, tells the tale of a secret, forbidden love between a black woman named Carmel and a white soldier named Bear, whose romance is cut short when he is shipped overseas to fight in the war. Flash forward fifty years to the funeral of Carmel - who never married after breaking up with Bear - which serves as the pretext for all the principal people in her life to gather together to air out their grievances and to thrash out the personal relationship problems that have haunted them all their lives. The participants include her emotionally distant brother and his two ex-wives; her two adult nieces and their respective men folk; and Bear himself, who, despite the fact that the two of them were kept apart all their lives by the restrictions of a racist society, has decided to pay not only for the services, but to put all these people up in one of the swankier hotels in Huntsville, Alabama. Though there are a goodly number of insightful, touching moments in "Constellation," the movie probably would have been more effective had the screenplay (by director Jordan Walker-Pearlman) not tried to cram so many different characters into such a relatively short space of time (the movie runs barely over an hour and a half). Yes, I understand that the theme of the movie is all about how we form "constellations" with the people who are most important to us in life, but speaking strictly in narrative terms, much too often, the genuinely compelling travails of one character are shunted aside to make room for the far less interesting problems of another. Moreover, the romantic relationship between Carmel and Bear, which is supposed to function as the emotional cornerstone of the movie, is never made all that convincing. We are TOLD that these two people are in love with each other, but we aren't made to FEEL it. In addition, Aunt Carmel is portrayed as such a wise and ethereal earth-mother presence even after death that she is essentially robbed of her own individuality and humanity as a character. Still, there is much that is good in the movie, starting with the performances of Billy Dee Williams, as a man incapable of making emotional connections with the people in his life, and Rae Dawn Chong, as the daughter who has the most trouble dealing with this reality. They are ably abetted by Lesley Ann Warren, Zoe Saldana, Melissa De Souza, and Hill Harper. The movie also boasts a flavorful soundtrack, filled with an eclectic mixture of musical styles, ranging from classical to hip hop to spiritual. The Huntsville setting also provides a refreshing change for audiences weary of seeing New York, Los Angeles and Chicago constantly being recycled in film after film, as if they were the only urban centers movie makers had to choose from. The movie does lay its message on a bit thickly towards the end, employing heavy-handed speech-making and rather obvious symbolism to get its points across. It really doesn't need to go to all that effort, since the viewers could probably figure the themes out on their own given half a chance. Yet, although "Constellation" is a decidedly mixed bag as far as family and social dramas go, it has enough elements of quality to make it worth checking out.