Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Until very recently, I had never heard of filmmaker Alvin Gray, though apparently, I was aware of at least one of his films. You see, when Black creativity and the internet collide, amazing things can happen and that’s exactly what transpired when I was sent the link to the trailer for the Tubi film, “The Nurse That Saw the Baby on the Highway.”
Here’s the YouTube description for the trailer for said film: Based on true/false events, nursing student Marlee Wilson has been struggling with day-to-day issues with school, work and her cheating boyfriend who’s addicted to strippers. Feeling like she’s not getting enough attention from her boyfriend, she decides to fake a kidnapping, but the hoax ends up getting deeper than she ever expected bringing real-life issues across the country!
As you can imagine, Marlee Wilson sounds A LOT like Carlee Russell, who in July, claimed she saw a baby on I-59 in Birmingham, Alabama, and launched a million articles, thinkpieces about real issues affecting Black women and our care for them before finding out the whole thing was a hoax. I watched that movie, by the way. I watch Tubi movies, but I especially watch Tubi movies that seem like they are 100% with the shenanigans. So, it should come as no surprise that when I saw the trailer for “The Rapper That Got Shot in the Heel,” I felt a sense of deja vu. After watching the trailer, I had two thoughts: 1) wow, Tubi gives zero effs; and 2) the person who made this HAS to be the same person who made “The Nurse That Saw the Baby on the Highway.” And I was right.
Let me just say this: It’s amazing how stuff goes viral but doesn’t at the same time. For instance, I have had NO LESS THAN 20 people send me a tweet or IG post about this film where the comments sections are on fire, implying that everybody is talking about this film, but the actual trailer on YouTube has about 3,000 views, which isn’t even close to viral. People are talking about a thing they aren’t actually engaging with — go check these things out, y’all. Support Black filmmakers.
Anywho, I am absolutely on board with watching this movie, and I even checked out an IG video by Mr. Gray who addressed his making of the film; now, I’m intrigued if it goes in the direction he claims, but listening to him talk also made me interested in the rest of his filmography and what else he might have on deck. I’ll watch and pay for the films — this film “Check Please” actually looks like it might be fun — and I’m here to offer some other suggestions since he has his ears to the streets. Peep game.
“The Rapper Who Wore the KKK Hood on a Stage With His Daughter”
Mr. Gray seems to like making films where he dissects the “how” of the situation, putting the pieces together, so to speak. What we absolutely need is a movie about HOW IN THE WORLD the guy who told us that the president didn’t care about Black people in 2005 got up on a stage in 2023 with a black KKK hoodie on … with his daughter in tow. It kind of sounds like a horror/psychological thriller, if you ask me.
“The Baby Who Is Over at Least One of But Maybe Both of Her Parents (Depending on Paternity)”
I don’t know a single song by Blueface, and I have no idea what Christian Rock does for money, but their child (maybe? I saw some story where Blueface is claiming he swabbed his kid, and the kid is not his on some “Billie Jean” stuff) HAS to be over his parents by now. That’s a film waiting to happen: Indigoface and Trishane Stone can’t find their baby, who has run away. It’s got comedy, joy and emancipation written all over it. I see it as a Juneteenth film.
“The Hat That Launched the Brawl”
The Montgomery Riverboat Brawl is going to go down in African-American history as a landmark event. But the hat that buddy tossed into the air is now the stuff of legend. A creative, organic Bat signal that became a rallying cry against tyranny and racism, and led to a brawl and beatdown where the white people caught sentences. What was the hat’s journey that day? The title needs work, but the story is waiting to be told, Mr. Gray.
“We Used to Love Them, Now We Don’t”
We used to love Phil and Jana. But now after books, entanglements and slaps heard around the world, the Black community requests to never hear from them again. How we got there needs a movie.
I think that will do for now. Mr. Gray, holla at me. But if not, I can’t wait to see any of these films on Tubi, where they belong.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest), but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said: “Unknown” (Blackest).
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