For these seeking to develop their worldview, particularly in relation to the Black expertise, doing so by the lens of cinema is at all times a implausible place to begin. In the event you’re a Netflix subscriber, the O.G. streaming platform is a good place to begin a crash course in cultural assimilation. That will help you get began, we’ve put collectively this roundup of one of the best Black motion pictures on Netflix you can stream proper now.
On the lookout for extra movies and reveals that illustrate the Black expertise? Take a look at our roundups of one of the best Black reveals and films to stream throughout all platforms.
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
Tailored from the 2005 novel of the identical identify, Beasts of No Nation stars Idris Elba as Commandment, a towering West African guerilla warfare chief. As civil struggle breaks out, a younger boy named Agu is recruited by Commandment to affix his battalion after assaults on the boy’s settlement are initiated by insurgent forces. Leaving his household behind, Agu begins an immense coming-of-age journey by his militaristic coaching. Securing a number of awards and nominations when first launched, Beasts of No Nation is an incredible piece of cinema with daring visuals, deep performances, and a powerful narrative.
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Stars: Idris Elba, Abraham Attah, Kurt Egyiawan
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Ranking: R
Runtime: 137 minutes
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Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
Impressed by Wil Haygood’s Washington Put up article “A Butler Nicely Served by This Election,” Lee Daniels’ The Butler chronicles three a long time of White Home interior workings by the eyes of Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), a cherished butler employed in the course of the Eisenhower administration and serving by the head years of the American civil rights motion. Making an attempt to steadiness household life together with his skilled duties, Cecil watches a nation unravel earlier than his very eyes, difficult the nation’s long-held racial boundaries. Commanded by a robust lead efficiency from Whitaker together with an ensemble of different noteworthy abilities — together with Oprah Winfrey as Cecil’s spouse, Gloria, and Cuba Gooding Jr. as Carter Wilson, the lead butler on the White Home — Lee Daniels’ The Butler is a robust movie with respectable intentions.
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Stars: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Director: Lee Daniels
Ranking: PG-13
Runtime: 132 minutes
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Uncorked (2020)
In writer-director Prentice Penny’s Uncorked, Mamoudou Athie stars as Elijah, an aspiring sommelier with desires of leaving the household barbecue enterprise behind in pursuit of his wine connoisseur desires. When a once-in-a-lifetime alternative presents itself, the younger man should select between a lifetime of custom and household ties or a brand new world full of main private alternatives. An lively Black comedy-drama with acquainted however elevated household undertones, Uncorked seems and seems like quite a few different movies within the “stay-or-go” subgenre, however its performances and relatable narrative push it above the remainder of its counterparts.
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Stars: Mamoudou Athie, Courtney B. Vance, Niecy Nash
Director: Prentice Penny
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 104 minutes
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Beats (2019)
Eighteen months after a devastating tragedy, Chicago youth August (Khalil Everage), troubled by PTSD, struggles to discover a significant life exterior of his bed room. When faculty principal Vanessa runs up in opposition to personnel cuts if her faculty’s attendance doesn’t enhance, she hires her soon-to-be ex, Romelo (Anthony Anderson), as a safety guard. Tasked with encouraging August to return to high school, Romelo discovers that {the teenager} is a proficient musician. As a friendship begins forming between the 2, Romelo and August uncover that their fraternal bond is the significant relationship that each males have been looking for their complete lives. With a reasonably by-the-book narrative, Beats really shines by the onscreen chemistry between Anthony Anderson and Khalil Everage.
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Stars: Anthony Anderson, Khalil Everage, Uzo Aduba, Dave East
Director: Chris Robinson
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 110 minutes
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The Black Godfather (2019)
The Black Godfather is a riveting documentary about Black music legend Clarence Avant. A report label founder, live performance curator, political activist, and a cherished mentor to a number of different executives that had been impressed by his quiet however esteemed reign over the humanities, Clarence really did all of it. Buckle up for this profanity-laced tell-all: It’s a uncooked and sincere portrait of a necessary leisure figurehead. Don’t let the F-bomb drops deter you although — it is a top-notch documentary with an ensemble of noteworthy speaking heads and a mighty arcing narrative to seal the deal.
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Stars: Clarence Avant
Director: Reginald Hudlin
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 118 minutes
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Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story (2020)
Director Adam Carolla’s Uppity is an thrilling and provoking documentary about Willy T. Ribbs, the primary Black race automotive driver to compete within the Indy 500. The movie explores the numerous boundaries that Willy, an outspoken sportsman and defiant driver, would overcome as a part of a lifelong effort for achievement and perseverance. That includes weigh-ins from racing execs, drivers, and different Ribbs familiars, Carolla’s documentary paints an all-encompassing portrait of Willy’s legacy.
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Stars: Willy T. Ribbs
Administrators: Nate Adams, Adam Carolla
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 105 minutes
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Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992 (2017)
A lot-needed cinema for these seeking to achieve historic context in regards to the Black expertise in America, director John Ridley’s Let It Fall takes a magnifying glass to the racially charged streets of LA within the decade previous the Rodney King beating and the consequential riots that introduced a whole metropolis to its knees. By way of archival footage, unique interviews with legislation enforcement, eyewitnesses, victims, and perpetrators, Ridley weaves collectively an intricate and intense documentary expertise that sheds a tough gentle on injustice whereas urging us to rethink and reframe our personal perceptions of the numerous catastrophic occasions the movie touches on. Wealthy, deeply private, and unabashed in its supply, Let It Fall is quintessential documentary filmmaking at its best.
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Stars: John Ridley, Jeanmarie Condon
Director: John Ridley
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 144 minutes
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Miss Virginia (2019)
In Miss Virginia, Orange Is the New Black‘s Emmy-winning Uzo Aduba stars because the titular character. A working-class mom residing in Washington, D.C., Virginia finds it tough to make ends meet. Worse is that her 15-year-old son, James (Niles Fitch), is taking to a life on the streets. Unable to simply accept the established order, Virginia makes it her mission to get James out of public faculty and right into a worthy non-public establishment. With a spine of activism and an timeless function, Virginia faces down hurdle after hurdle as her singular dream for her baby turns into a much bigger phenomenon for the Black group. Directed by R.J. Daniel Hana, from a script by Erin O’ Connor, Miss Virginia includes a spellbinding efficiency from Uzo Aduba as tough-loving Virginia. It’s one you don’t wish to miss.
Rotten Tomatoes: 50%
Stars: Uzo Aduba, Matthew Modine, Samantha Sloyan
Director: R.J. Daniel Hana
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 102 minutes
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Quincy (2018)
It’s laborious to encapsulate the lifetime of a legend, particularly one as prolific and thought to be musician extraordinaire, Quincy Jones. However co-directors Rashida Jones (Quincy’s daughter) and Alan Hicks do a outstanding job of wrangling the lifetime of the icon. Chronicling Quincy’s formative years and eventual rise to stardom in each the skilled movie and music communities he would come to dominate, Quincy paints an immense portrait of the artist, activist, husband, and father, that includes interviews and recollections from these closest to him. An immersive and extremely human movie, Quincy went on to win a Grammy for Greatest Music Movie on the 2019 Grammy Awards.
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Stars: Quincy Jones, Rashida Jones, Alan Hicks
Director: Rashida Jones, Alan Hicks
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 124 minutes
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)
William Kamkwamba (Maxwell Simba) is a younger boy with humongous desires and an unbelievable knack for electrical engineering. When his mother and father can’t sustain together with his faculty’s tuition, the wunderkind blackmails his science instructor into letting William proceed his research. As famine units into his village, tearing households aside, William devises a genius plan to assemble a windmill to energy an electrical water pump. The percentages in opposition to him and missing assets, William builds his machine with out ever wanting again. As director Chiwetel Ejiofor’s highly effective function debut, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a fantastically constructed movie in regards to the struggles of humanity and what we do to beat hardship even below probably the most hopeless of situations.
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maxwell Simba, Lily Banda
Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Ranking: R
Runtime: 113 minutes
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ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke (2019)
Influential soul singer, entrepreneur, and activist Sam Cooke gave quite a bit to the world. On this emotionally-stirring Netflix doc, we revisit the legacy and influence of the artist by the use of these he cherished most and that cherished him in return. That includes a talking-head ensemble of household, mates, journalists, teachers, and different cultural movers and shakers, director Kelly Duane’s provocative movie shines new gentle on Sam’s homicide by the use of Bertha Franklin in 1964, exploring the crime from a number of vantages. A chronicling of a profound artist and the mark he left on Black tradition, that is one you don’t wish to miss.
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Stars: Sam Cooke, Quincy Jones, Smokey Robinson
Director: Kelly Duane
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 74 minutes
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See You Yesterday (2019)
Primarily based on writer-director Stefon Bristol’s 2017 quick movie of the identical identify, See You Yesterday stars Eden Duncan-Smith and Dante Crichlow as CJ and Sebastian, two science nerds who spend their time inventing — particularly, time machine backpacks that can blast the youths throughout the space-time continuum. When a tragedy befalls CJ, she and Sebastian will do no matter it takes to show again time to save lots of somebody they love (and have misplaced). Seamlessly mixing science fiction and social drama, See You Yesterday is led by highly effective and endearing performances from its leads whereas by no means straying from its racial undertones.
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Stars: Eden Duncan-Smith, Dante Crichlow, Astro
Director: Stefon Bristol
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 86 minutes
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I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
Director Raoul Peck’s invigorating documentary movie is a chronicling of creator James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Bear in mind This Home. A front-row seat to a historical past of American racial battle, Peck (supported by a robust voiceover from Samuel L. Jackson) seamlessly weaves a portrait of Baldwin’s interactions with such distinguished Black leaders as Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X. The beating coronary heart of the image is Baldwin’s call-to-arms prose, simply as related and wanted as we speak because it was practically 50 years in the past. The movie was nominated for Greatest Documentary Function on the 89th Academy Awards and gained the BAFTA Award for Greatest Documentary.
Rotten Tomatoes: 99%
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Raoul Peck, James Baldwin
Director: Raoul Peck
Ranking: PG-13
Runtime: 95 minutes
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Loving (2016)
Primarily based partially on the 2012 HBO documentary The Loving Story, author/director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) goes for a extra streamlined and air-brushed strategy to the Richard and Mildred Loving civil rights debacle. Native Virginians, the interracial couple was arrested for attempting to marry exterior of their segregated state, sparking a case that went all the way in which to the Supreme Court docket. What we get in Nichols’ imaginative and prescient of their hardship is a narrative a couple of household that simply desires to be a household. Earnest performances from Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga actually promote the heartfelt script, making this an integral and emotional entry in our roundup.
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Stars: Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Michael Shannon
Director: Jeff Nichols
Ranking: PG-13
Runtime: 123 minutes
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Changing into (2020)
In the event you discover that you simply’re lacking the grace, compassion, and normalcy of the Obama administration, Changing into is a refreshing watch. A companion to Michelle Obama’s autobiography, Changing into sheds gentle on her journey to turn out to be America’s first African American First Girl. Whereas it’s not fairly as private as some would possibly like, Changing into is nonetheless an endearing, usually provocative dialogue of race, hope, and connecting with these of various backgrounds and beliefs. It’s a eager reminder that leaders can encourage by optimistic instance.
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Stars: Michelle Obama, Barack Obama,
Director: Nadia Hallgren
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 100 minutes
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thirteenth (2016)
“In the event you’re within the jail enterprise, you don’t need reform. You might say you do. However you don’t.” Ava DuVernay’s eye-opening, at instances harrowing, thirteenth is a pivotal documentary that explores the centuries-old criminalization of disenfranchised African American communities, however by the use of tracing the steps of American racism to its very roots. Over the course of the movie, DuVernay and plenty of activists, lawmakers, and teachers unfold decade after decade of politically motivated laws, and the lobbyists usually behind these legal guidelines, which have led not solely to the privatization of the American jail system but additionally to the staggeringly disproportionate incarceration of tens of millions of African American women and men. The movie could be tough to observe, however DuVernay’s grim realizations are made to be blatant. What can be obvious is that there’s nonetheless hope for basic change, a message echoed by the movie’s ensemble of progressively minded confiders, figures each left- and right-leaning.
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Stars: Michelle Alexander, Cory Booker, Melina Abdullah
Director: Ava DuVernay
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 100 minutes
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All Day and a Night time (2020)
In All Day and a Night time, Ashton Sanders performs Jahkor Lincoln, a once-aspiring rapper serving a life sentence for homicide. By way of a sequence of flashbacks, we be taught of Lincoln’s troubled upbringing. An adolescence riddled with abuse and dire straits results in petty crime, which evolves into one thing way more sinister when Lincoln begins providing his providers to a gangster named Massive Stunna. As present-day Jahkor seems again on his darkish previous from behind bars, an previous confederate is admitted to the identical jail. This time round, although, the person is a foe, not a buddy. Praised for its performances and meditative qualities, All Day and a Night time is certainly a richly-textured drama. Ashton Sanders is especially spectacular as Jahkor.
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Stars: Ashton Sanders, Jeffrey Wright, Isaiah John
Director: Joe Robert Cole
Ranking: R
Runtime: 120 minutes
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American Son (2019)
Kerry Washington is electrical in Kenny Leon’s racially charged drama a couple of mom, father, and the cops that function the gatekeepers to their son’s security (or lack thereof). The movie is minimalist by way of set items, however the true gravitas of this 90-minute, escalating panic is within the claustrophobia of the police station, a bunker clinging to its segregated previous by the use of demarcated water fountains and a quiet regional disparity coated with a legislation e-book and a smile. The true pleasure of the movie is in watching Washington claw her method by the narrative, channeling a polarity of feelings which might be all backed by the all-too-relatable worry of a mom fearful as a result of her baby didn’t come dwelling. Sparse modifying and an emotional rating are the backbones of those three acts, every of which performs out like a theater piece, sans intermission.
Rotten Tomatoes: 48%
Stars: Kerry Washington, Jeremy Jordan, Steven Pasquale
Director: Kenny Leon
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 90 minutes
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HOMECOMING: A Movie By Beyonce (2019)
A live performance movie for a brand new technology, HOMECOMING gained a Grammy for Greatest Musical Movie. Beyoncé has turn out to be one thing of a musical movie savant, with Lemonade, Black Is King, and HOMECOMING all incomes rave opinions. It’s HOMECOMING, nevertheless, that stands uniquely as a live performance movie. The movie takes an in-depth take a look at Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella efficiency, revealing the unbelievable inventive depth and cultural significance of the present.
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Stars: Beyoncé Knowles
Director: Beyoncé, Ed Burke
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 137 minutes
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Imperial Desires (2014)
In co-writer/director Malik Vitthal’s Imperial Desires, John Boyega performs Bambi, a gangster seeking to put his violent previous behind him. However as Bambi makes steps to go away Imperial Courts, the initiatives rope him proper again in, in opposition to his will. Vitthal really shoots the movie at the true Imperial Courts housing initiatives in Watts, Los Angeles, making a true-to-life enviornment for all the movie’s powerhouse performers. Each function within the ensemble is richly lived in by the respective actor, creating an sincere and nuanced depiction of on a regular basis life locally. Visually, cinematographer Monika Lenczewska’s digital camera retains all the things in widescreen, with a majority of our give attention to Bambi as he hovers out and in of scenes. At its coronary heart, Imperial Desires is a movie in regards to the redemption of a person, a sprawling odyssey that retains two ft in actuality all through your complete movie. The movie has a lot to say about disparity, and it says all of it fairly naturally. In Desires, the story feels simply as actual because the initiatives it’s set and shot in.
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Stars: John Boyega, Rotimi, Glenn Plummer
Director: Malik Vitthal
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 87 minutes
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She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
Black-cinema savant and activist Spike Lee’s model of a rom-com is an entire lot extra provocative than the usual Hollywood romantic drivel. Famously shot in 15 days on a price range of $175,000, She’s Gotta Have It turned Lee’s popping out occasion, introducing him to the world as a fearless filmmaker with a singular voice and a profoundly totally different perspective. The movie follows Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) on a well-known quest of attempting to determine what sort of man she desires so far. Indecisive, she decides so far three directly: Greer Childs, the wealthy, good-looking narcissist; Jamie Overstreet, the steady, overprotective alpha male; and Mars Blackmon, the timid geek with a coronary heart of gold. Whereas she will be able to’t make up her thoughts, it is rather clear that Nola has gotta have all of it.
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Stars: Tracy Camilla, Tommy Redmond Hicks, Raye Dowell
Director: Spike Lee
Ranking: R
Runtime: 84 minutes
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Barry (2016)
You would possibly suppose Barack Obama continues to be too not too long ago out of workplace to have his personal biopic, however the circumstances surrounding the nation’s first Black president’s rise to energy are worthy of this 2016 movie. The story follows a younger Barack Obama as he arrives in New York Metropolis within the fall of 1981 for his junior yr at Columbia College. Echoing lots of the themes expressed in his autobiography, Desires of My Father, Obama struggles to remain linked to his mom and his estranged father and construct new connections together with his classmates. Concurrently, he battles an id disaster and turns into essential of the injustices he sees in his day-to-day life, in the end motivating him towards a profession in organizing and, finally, politics.
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Stars: Devon Terrell, Anya Taylor-Pleasure, Ashley Judd
Director: Vikram Gandhi
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 104 minutes
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Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Spike Lee’s first film below his new Netflix deal is a contemporary masterpiece. Concurrently in regards to the stasis of the motion for Black justice and the enduring villainy of the Vietnam Conflict, Da 5 Bloods bounces between eras to light up how little has modified in 40 years. The movie follows 4 Black vets as they return to Vietnam looking for the stays of their fallen squad chief and a buried treasure they vowed to someday return for. What they uncover is their very own “Coronary heart of Darkness” as they battle the forces of man and nature, confronting the lasting legacy of the struggle and its influence on Vietnam and each other.
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Stars: Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters
Director: Spike Lee
Ranking: R
Runtime: 135 minutes
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Mudbound (2017)
The expertly lensed Mudbound — written and directed by Dee Rees and photographed by Rachel Morrison — explores the non-public, financial, and racial tensions of two rural households residing by the use of the land in World Conflict II-era Mississippi. A respective son from every household goes off to struggle. These are Jamie McAllan (Garrett Hedlund) and Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell), two boys who depart a world of racism and different struggles behind.
The battle ends. They return dwelling, Jamie with newfound trauma, and Ronsel to a rustic that appears down at him for the colour of his pores and skin, no matter his valor. What’s to really savor in Rees’ masterful interval drama is Morrison’s language of framing. Rees and Morrison had been after a sort of digital camera work that mirrored the sensation of the American Dream, and so we get magnificence in shades. However below the flora is loud and vibrant cinematography that enhances our reference to each households, one white and one black. Mudbound is illuminating in additional methods than one, an epic racial drama led by a grasp class of actors that each one personal their roles.
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Stars: Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell
Director: Dee Rees
Ranking: R
Runtime: 144 minutes
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Robust Island (2017)
Director Yance Ford’s investigation into the 1992 homicide of her brother, 24-year-old William Ford Jr., is an examination of judicial prejudice like no different, and an unbelievable movie experiment. Courageously, Ford toes the road between essay movie, private memoir, and true crime exposé, seamlessly mixing every sort of documentary type in an effort to greatest seize her 22-year story of ache and loss. Ford spends time with the chums, household, and prepared judicial entities that had been concerned in her brother’s life and within the courtroom for his killer’s trial, 19-year-old Mark P. Reilly. These many emotional recollections weave a wealthy tapestry of William Ford Jr.’s life, ambitions, fears, and frustrations. Beneath the data, speaking heads, and scrapbook images is a narrative a couple of household that misplaced their son, and his little sister’s lifelong quest for familial and private closure.
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Stars: Yance Ford, Harvey Walker, Kevin Myers
Director: Yance Ford
Ranking: TV-MA
Runtime: 107 minutes
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What Occurred, Miss Simone? (2015)
What Occurred, Miss Simone? explores the lifetime of prolific singer-songwriter and pianist, Nina Simone, by recollections composed of archived interviews, pictures, commentaries, musical performances, and journal entries. Stricken by racism from an early age, Simone’s rise to stardom served as a platform for the activism that might outline a lot of her profession. Liz Garbus’ movie is an introspective journey into the always-racing thoughts of an inventive genius, and a black lady who desperately needed for black voices to be heard and understood the world over. Conversations with mates, household, and those who labored with Simone professionally spherical out the documentary, every contributor including a brand new layer of Nina, an advanced however enduring particular person with a calling that by no means ceased, and a expertise like no different.
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Stars: Lisa Simone Kelly, Roger Nupie, Dick Gregory
Director: Liz Garbus
Ranking: R
Runtime: 101 minutes
Watch on Netflix
Editors’ Alternative
