Destination: Planet Negro!

What begins as a hilarious parody of a low-low-budget 1950s sci-fi potboiler evolves into a solid satire about the mixed report card on racial equality in contemporary America. A council of African-American scientists and other great black thinkers (including George Washington Carver and W.E.B. Du Bois) convenes in 1939 to discuss a radical proposition: namely, forget the uphill battle for racial justice and simply pile every black citizen of the U.S. into rocket ships headed for Mars, where a new society can be formed. But when an advance team comprised of tweedy Dr. Warrington Avery (Kevin Willmott, who wrote and directed), his beautiful astronomer daughter Beneatha (Danielle Cooper), and cocky pilot Captain Race Johnson (Tosin Morohunfola) take off for the Red Planet, they wind up passing through a wormhole and land in today's urban America. Naturally, the trio are alarmed by some odd sights (young black guys with sagging pants are obviously starving; earbuds must be how slaves are being programmed by their masters). But the time travelers also struggle with more serious inconsistencies, such as why an African-American woman can get a faculty position at an integrated, major university, yet still fear for her life during a traffic stop by a white cop. Destination: Planet Negro! is a very funny film that doesn't stray too far from old sci-fi tropes and character clichés, but it also carries a sharp satirical bite that resonates deeply today. Highly recommended. (T. Keogh)