Magical Negro

I wasn't sure what kind of a movie Sleight (2017) was - gritty urban realism or superhero fantasy. That's fine, it doesn't want you to know either.

It stars Jacob Latimore, a black kid who was going to get a great scholarship after high school, but his mother's death put that on hold. Now he is raising his little sister on the proceeds of some street magic and dealing coke and molly. He's a charismatic young man, and his magic act is pretty impressive. As a dealer, his specialty seems to be white college kids who want to seem cooler than they are. Things aren't great, but he's doing all right. He even met a girl while busking and she likes him.

But his boss, Dule Hill (Psych), turns out to be a lot less chill than Latimore thinks. A new dealer is working his territory, and Hill gets tough - and makes Latimore his enforcer.

Now I hope you are not reading this before you see Sleight - which I recommend that you do - because spoilers. Some of Latimore's tricks seem inexplicable, but of course, that's what magic is about. Then you see him changing batteries for some gizmo, and he levitates the old batteries into the trash - He's Magneto! For real! Or is it part of another elaborate effect?

I'm not going to spoiler the answer, but it's both real and fantasy, awesome and silly. And in some ways, unnecessary. This could have been a simple story about a good kid who made bad choices, got the consequences for being a black man in America and so forth. It would have been a fine movie. But I probably wouldn't watch it, because that's not my genre. SF/Fantasy/Superhero is right up my alley, though, so I'm glad I watched. I can't say I was tricked into it, because it was just what I expected, even though I didn't really know what to expect.