I saw both movies, and I think that SLOW beats SN hands down. Despite some warm reviews on iMDB and from Roger Ebert, I thought SN was a formulaic romantic comedy with a minor change in the premise (he’s white, she’s black). It wasn’t a compelling love story at all. Although the writer and director tried to tell the story of earthy Brian coaxing uptight, workaholic Kenya out of her shell, he came across as a snide know-it-all sometimes. Brian’s character was one-dimensional, and we hardly ever see his family, friends or his world. Painting Kenya’s family as a crowd of elitists who don’t date ‘the help’ seemed more like a veiled attack on a specific set of people, rather than a portrait of upper middle class Black Americans.
SLOW had it’s wobbly spots (see my review), but the characters were more distinct and likeable. You got a glimpse of the tradition-bound Nigerian community, a glimpse of Matthew’s grotesque, materialistic lifestyle, and you understood the challenges to Matthew and Nimi’s relationship. By the (predictable) end, you wished them well and wondered how Nimi and Sammy fit into Matthew’s life in London. SLOW is now my ‘wind-down’ movie after a tough week at work.
At the end of the day, look to 'Beseiged' starring Thandie Newton if you’re looking for a compelling interracial love story. Like SLOW, it involves a British man falling in love with an African woman. But unlike SLOW, SN or the just-for-fun ‘Guess Who’, ‘Besieged’ is absorbing and beautiful and has an ending that will really leave you guessing, and really wondering, which one does she choose?
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lovinglife
18 years ago
I saw Beseiged and didn't like it at all. Thandie's character was afraid of him throughout the whole movie. There was never a loving feeling on her part toward him. Her whole goal was to get her husband out of prison and back into her life and she felt like she had to repay him by sleeping with him. Her British boss was too strange for my taste. He was always lurking around, looking into her things, doing things that would frighten any woman if she was employed by him. It was on a lower scale of sexual harassment to me. And he was willing to accept one night of her sleeping with him for getting her husband out of prison. Unlike SLoW and Something New.
I never saw Brian Kelly as a know it all. He was depicted as an humble man who understood the struggles that women go through. He was much like Nimi in that the color of your skin didn't turn him away from you. He saw people as people, some good and some not so good. Kenyas' family wasn't just middle class in my opinion. They were a part of the upper elite. We were shown a side of Black society that most of us didn't know exist. I mean, the presenting of the debutants that I understands happens every year. Most blacks don't know and didn't know for a while that this existed.
I believe that Something New was rewritten from The Secret Laughter of Women and we are shown how complicated and delicate love is from the eyes of a man. In the movies, we're always shown how the woman is hurt and how she wants to get revenge for being mistreated or cheated on by the man. Or we're always shown how a man is scared of commitment and love in the movies. Well, in my opinion, "Something New" shows us how women have those same fears. Kenya McQueen took on Matthew Fields' role in Something New. She had let down her guard and was hurt so bad that she wasn't willing to let anyone in. She thought that if she went with someone her own "color" that she would be on safe grounds. Something New showed us how that the "black" community have the same prejudices that every other race of people deal with. We sometime think that if someone has the same color of skin or background that we have that the chances of being hurt are 1 in 100. But we all know that's not true. What I like about "The Secret Laughter of Women" and "Something New" is that we are introduced to gardeners who see the world from a different perspective. They know that a garden is beautiful when you mix different colors and different species together. The world is too big to keep any one color in a square peg. You can enjoy your garden more if you spread the colors around. No wonder Louie Armstrong's song "What A Wonderful World" gives you a good feeling to this day. Even God didn't limit the rainbow to one color.
Everytime I watch SLoW I get a new understanding. When I first received my copy I watched it 2 times a day for weeks. Now I watch it every now and again so that I walk away with a new understanding, a new love of this movie, a hope that one day my prince will come, just like Matthew Fields. And even though he may have flaws (like our Matthew Fields) I know that he only wants to be loved just as everyone else in this big world. SLoW has given me a new understanding of how men feel on the inside when it comes to love.
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PaigeTurner
18 years ago
I will say that the suitor in 'Beseiged' did creep me out a little. I never decided in my mind whether she chose the husband or Mr. Kinsky -- and shy she had to keep calling him Mr. Kinsky, I'll never know. Hey, I know! Maybe if they had a 'say my name' scene, things would have seemed a little less creepy about that relationship. Slightly.
Oh well, I guess everyone has different tastes, but at least we can all find a middle ground, where we relax, tune out the everyday stresses and share in The Secret Laughter of Women!
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lovinglife
18 years ago
There's another Colin Firth movie that can mellow you out too. Have you ever seen The Advocate. That's a good movie too. You even get a chance to see Mr. Firth wonderful buns in that movie. He's much younger, a little too thin for my taste but he's still beautiful in that Colin Firth way. But The Secret Laughter of Women will always be at the top of my list when it comes to romance. It's more to real life than any lovestory I've seen in a long, long time.
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Reverie3
18 years ago
Ahhh yes! The Advocate. I just love the line when he tells Samira "Thou art Black but comely, my sister, my wife!" Love the costumes he sports in this one.
I agree with you. SLOW is a mature love story with various layers of beautiful symbolism.
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letchicago
17 years ago
SLOW and SN are both engaging and delightful. What distinguishes them are the specifics of the circumstances - SLOW tells us about life amongst this community of West African expats and SM is about struggling to achieve in a corporate male world. Both are constraining environments that these unconventional love interests help the heroines break out of. Of course, the true prison is of their own making. They are ultimately "free your mind" movies.
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