Documentarian James Spooner travels the fiction route for the first occasion with White Lies, Black Sheep, but also interweaves the rudimentary elements of nonfiction (location and behavioral-fueled observation and insight) into this journey -- to such a degree that the outing might well be termed a "scripted documentary." Ayinde Howell stars as Ajamu "A.J." Talib, a young indie rock promoter at ease amid the New York club scene. Though officially Afro-American, he is neither continually conscious of his racial identity, nor -- it seems -- all that affected by it. Meanwhile, his Caucasian buddy Josh (Jeremy Bobb) appears to be grappling with his own racial identity by suppressing his "whiteness" and both acting and thinking black -- dating African-American women, aggressively and vociferously touting The Autobiography of Malcolm X, etc. Initially, though A.J. insists that his African-American heritage is neither here nor there for him, he begins to observe the myriad ways in which it impacts his social relationships -- from the friends who persist in treating him as exotic to the ones who carefully work around citing or addressing his racial identity. And though he has long made a practice of avoiding other black men and women, he soon finds himself helplessly drawn to one -- a woman named Pinky (Shaneka K. Wright), with whom he senses an unusual rapport.
by Nathan Southern
synopsis
