Dear White People

Arriving on UK shores 18 months after its Sundance debut, US comedy Dear White People is all too relevant in light of the increasingly publicised troubles of so-called ‘post-racial’ America right now. Writer-director Justin Simien’s assured feature debut is a satire that follows the stories of four black students at an Ivy League college in the weeks leading up to a disturbance that breaks out over an “African-American-themed party” thrown by a predominantly white fraternity.

In scripting and presentation, Simien’s film seems influenced by a curious blend of Godard, Spike Lee, Wes Anderson and Kubrick (with a number of audiovisual references to Barry Lyndon), but they’re never superficial homages and always designed to produce actual resonant meaning. Dear White People is sharp, snappy and often scathing, with Simien balancing a fine line between pointed barbs and broader laughs. The cast is uniformly excellent, with the standouts being two TV veterans, Tessa Thompson (Veronica Mars) and Tyler James Williams (Everybody Hates Chris), who deserve major film star success. [Josh Slater-Williams]