Dear White People

Mixing keen observations about the racial divide in today's America with some curiously simplistic conventions, writer-director Justin Simien's artsy debut is both thought-provoking and cheekily entertaining. The setting is Winchester U, a fictional Ivy League college where the students are divided into cliques within cliques. The focus is on the black contingent, mostly living in a single dorm presided over by the Dean's son, Troy Fairbanks (Brandon P. Bell), who is dating the white daughter (Brittany Curran) of the President. And that's one reason why he's challenged as resident head by his ex-girlfriend, Sam White (Tessa Thompson), a mixed-race activist who uses a campus radio broadcast to discomfit her white classmates (she's also having a fling with a sweet-natured white guy). There are other black voices on campus as well, including that of Coleandra “Coco” Conners (Teyonah Parris), a style-conscious girl seeking to win social-media primacy by emphasizing looks and gossip, and laidback gay Lionel Higgins (Tyler James Williams), who is recruited by the campus paper to report on African American issues. Everything comes to a head at a frat boy bash with a blackface theme that ends in a mini-riot. Dear White People deals with the relationship between the races in today's purportedly post-racial America, but it's also about young people struggling to define themselves beyond racial labeling. Simien's writing is often sharp and the characterizations sly in this film that plays like an updated version of Spike Lee's School Daze. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include two audio commentaries (one with writer-director Justin Simien; the other with Simien and costars Tessa Thompson, Tyler James Williams, Teyonah Parris, and Brandon Bell), a “making-of” featurette (20 min.), outtakes (5 min.), the spoof PSA series “The More You Know About Black People” (5 min.), parodies including “Racism Insurance” (3 min.), “DVRSE App: Black Friends When You Need Them” (3 min.), and “LEAKED: Banned Winchester U Diversity Video” (3 min.), deleted scenes (3 min.), the “Get Your Life” music video by Caught a Ghost, trailers, and a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a winning social satire.] (F. Swietek)