“The first time I saw Sidney [Poitier] was in A Warm December, the movie I affectionately refer to as ‘Put Your Damn Shirt Back On, Sidney!'”

If you’re not aware of the ongoing series “Black Man Talk,” between two of my pals, Odie Henderson and Steven Boone, then consider yourself informed. And run, don’t walk, to read the archive. These two powerhouse-intellects and writers don’t pair up that often because life is busy and everyone has shit to do. But it’s one of those rare series that I look forward to, keep my eyes peeled for, carve out the time to carefully read and re-read the whole thing. I met both Odie and Steven in my early days circulating in the film critic world of New York (a super-small world, you can basically fit all of us in one room), and we were involved once in a group-discussion at a party that we all still mention, on occasion, to one another as one of those moments in a chaotic world when people come together and connect, really connect. We all wrote about it too, on our own sites.

In “Black Man Talk,” Odie and Steven’s topics range far and wide. They pick one topic to focus on, and they go deep with each topic. That’s the joy of these conversations. There is no surface-level thing happening. They pick it apart. And two better film writers and thinkers you are not going to find. (I have mentioned before Steven’s review of Abbas Kiarostami’s great film Like Someone in Love as an example of the best that film criticism has to offer right now. A review should not be a book report, a plot synopsis, or an arm of the movie’s PR-machine. A review should help you to SEE. A review should be a portrait of the film critic, his tastes, inclinations, HOW he analyzes things. A review should tell us HOW the movie does what it does, way more than it should tell you WHAT a movie is. If Steven’s review doesn’t make you want to see the film, as well as help you perceive beneath the surface of the film once you’ve watched it, then there’s no hope for you.)

Their latest “Black Man Talk” is now up and the topic is Sidney Poitier. Don’t miss it.