ZEBRAHEAD
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This is a realistic but far too open- ended story of racial tensions that may or may not have led to violence. Story of a white Jewish boy dating a black girl and its eventual outcome by neophyte writer-director Anthony Drazen avoids being too obviously a Romeo-and-Juliet story, but ends up muddling whatever point it was trying to make. Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4).
The setting is Detroit in what was once a middle-class neighborhood. Now it is run-down, bombed-out, and polluted over. One guy in the neighborhood likes to set fire to his lawn and see it burn in jets of flame from some flammable pollutant in the soil. These days the people who live in this neighborhood are people who have no other choice. The area is dominated by blacks, with some Asians, Hispanics, and Jews mixed in. Zack Glass (played by Michael Rapaport) is a Jew, but his culture and friends are black. Zack's father Richard (played by Ray Sharkey) runs a record store. Richard has two interests in life: making sure he and his son are getting enough sex, and listening to black music from the 1950s and 1960s.
Zack's best friend Dee (played by DeShonn Castle) is black. Through him Zack meets Dee's beautiful cousin Nikki (played by N'Bushe Wright). When Zack starts dating Nikki, their friends and family are not sure what to make of the situation. There seems to be a suspicion that a white-black relationship will not work out, but this is not "Romeo and Juliet" or "West Side Story." This is not a story of whites and blacks at war, but there are tensions that set events in motion that do lead to violence.
ZEBRAHEAD is not a simplistic story. Even when violence does occur it is left open to the viewer's interpretation whether or not the violence even can be termed a racial incident. Anthony Drazen has shown us the background for an incident without tying it up and making it simple. As a first-time writer and director he has told a story that is probably near his own experience and his characters both talk and act realistically. Most are also acting for the first time and probably playing characters much like themselves. The only familiar face is, in fact, Ray Sharkey, a rather good actor who takes James Woods sorts of roles. The dialogue and acting are both quite acceptable considering the overall lack of experience. Only the ambiguity of the events of the story works against the film. However, one does get to the end of this film expecting some point to have been made a little more strongly than Drazen has. The "Okay, so what?" dissatisfied feeling does not serve this film well. As a result, I give it a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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