Dave Chappelle Netflix/Dave Chappelle Show

In my opinion, Dave Chappelle provides that unique combination of comedy and social commentary in his productions. His work is important on many fronts. He touches upon taboos that scare whites from affluent backgrounds while reaching those that foster beliefs of social justice. Some may consider his humor to be inappropriate when it comes to some issues regarding social justice, however that is to the contrary. Those that mislabel his work fail to connect to the irony provided as a backdrop to his humor.
His television show on Comedy Central broke many television stereotypes of African Americans. At the time his show premiered, Cosby had cleaned up negative self images of African-Americans. Chappelle, reversed the Cosby effect by challenging conventional wisdom regarding African American stereotypes. His show allowed an African-American to reflect honestly about race and inequality while using humor as a backdrop. So many characters reflected negative stereotypes instead of sweeping them under the carpet like Cosby had tried to do.

The show reached huge numbers, and then Dave disappeared for 10 years. While many speculated why he left his craft, he never felt the need to explain to anyone his reasons for taking time for himself. I truly respect that his absence remained a mystery. Dave has been slowly reintroducing himself to the millennials. His most recent work is 2 episodes on Netflix. The shows are live comedy shows. There are no comedy sketches like his previous television show. We just get Dave with a live audience. However his humor is just as irreverent as the TV show.

In the first episode, he discusses a wide range of issues. His fame seems to be a backdrop for some of the skits. My favorite comedy bit is O.J. Simpson. He splits up O.J. into 2 eras. He draws some comedic analogies with O.J. that are introspective and funny. Within this episode he also jokes about another African-American legend, Bill Cosby. He has an ability to reflect that their guilt is inconsequential to their body of work. In a sense, they are the first African-Americans to benefit from wealth and status when it comes to our nation's criminal justice system. Such a subtle play on history. I thought it was genius. The second episode is filmed in Austin Texas. Again, Dave uses humor to discuss topics that many simply would avoid.  He can cross cultural lines that many comedians do not have the ability to do in their performances. He can talk and joke about sexuality, misogynist behavior, race and culture using analogies that are honest and funny. They also make some uncomfortable and cause them to reflect upon their own values. This is why Chappelle matters. His humor uses high level thinking to get across viewpoints using low brow humor. Simply put, Chappelle's humor makes us think about our thoughts and actions, which is why I recommend his body of work.

Mr. Church

Mr. Church is a hidden gem from 2016 starring Eddie Murphy. (My take on Eddie Murphy is that I have always felt he has a wide range as an actor that has gone untapped. I think this movie allows him to stretch a bit from what we are use to seeing him do on the big screen, and he was excellent in this movie.)

Mr. Church is a movie about an individual (Church) that takes on a short term assignment to help a single parent family. The family is small consisting of a mom and daughter. The mom has breast cancer and she is uncertain how long she has to live. You immediately get immersed into the story because we are not sure what motivates Mr. Church to help this family. This is what makes the movie work throughout the entire film. The main character appears without explanation, leaving us to guess what is intrinsically motivating this man to help the family.

This movie reminded me of a quote from my mom I would learn as a child,  "everybody has a story." It was a lesson on how to understand empathy. Stories about people's past are how we learn about ourselves. The human conditions we encounter can be complex, surreal,  and often complicated. People have many layers, especially with complicated pasts. We can learn from their stories if we take the time to get to know them. This is a core theme in this movie.  If you enjoy learning what makes a person "tick", than Mr. Church is gong to be a great film for you to experience.

We learn about Mr. Church, by his examples of generosity. Yet his generosity causes us to have doubts, because we are taught to doubt the context of human kindness through imperfections. We can mistrust someone for having generous thoughts and actions by looking for imperfections, and this is why I absolutely love the simplicity of this movie. I found myself second guessing, and looking for subplots based on my life experiences when I tried to figure out why Mr. Church is so generous to this family.

The movie is simple. We follow Mr. Church through the eyes of Charlie. (The daughter as she grows up) The ending is poetic. Simple yet complex. I truly believe we learn about Mr. Church, and his life can explain some scenarios in our nation that we can not understand. Mr. Church was guarded about his personal life for many reasons. The scenarios running through my mind throughout this movie were not even close to the ending. The ending was a reminder for me that human relationships can be impacted by factors that are hidden and personal. Yet those experiences can bring out the best of us. This is what makes Mr. Church a cerebral viewing experience.