Black Ruby is a low budget independent film targeted at Latino audiences. The filmmakers claim this is the first feature to be shot on an iPhone 7. It should probably also be the last film shot on an iPhone 7.
The two leads are Jules (Joseph Mennella) and Louis (Zachary Laoutides), friends, part-time Jazz musicians, and full-time hustlers who fund their musical ambitions by placing bets on Louis’ brutal street fight competitions. One night in a diner they spy Ruby, a prostitute, and her pimp, who is verbally abusing her. This rubs Louis the wrong way and he beats the man to a pulp, then brings Ruby home with him.
She becomes a distraction and drives a wedge between the musical partners that threatens to take them all down.
Ruby has no agency, she goes with any man. Instead of conversation she prefers to communicate with sex. The character is less a human being than a “dirty damsel in distress” sex doll. She (naturally) ultimately proves to be a backstabbing femme fatale whose treachery drives the boys apart, cycling through the tired catalog of misogynistic tropes about women.
“…One night in a diner they spy Ruby, a prostitute, and her pimp, who is verbally abusing her…”
Entitling a film about a Black-Hispanic prostitute named Ruby (Krystal E. Heredia), Black Ruby is too on-the-nose, and if not straight up racist, then at least so crude that it’s hard to move beyond the title to consider the rest of the movie.
The image is grainy and the scenes are poorly lit. The low-tech camera is partly to blame, but lighting could have dramatically improved the quality of the image. There is little camera movement, making the whole film feel claustrophobic. During the fight scenes, the image often has a square frame superimposed for no discernible reason, and a blood spatter effect is used randomly, presumably for documentary style realism, but seen over the shoulder of a fighter a punch is thrown and blood spatters, even if neither opponent is bloody.
The sound is abysmal, with background noise and echo muffling the dialog. The only relief from it comes from music used during long static shots of characters emoting as the film repeatedly shows pensive moments to indicate emotional churn. This is a cheap expositional dodge, breaking the “show, don’t tell” rule of script writing and taking the viewer out of the film. Also, the track choices are a jarring mix of piano and old big band songs. None of it is bad, but it doesn’t fit. Viewers will be struggling for some reference to the big band era: there is none.
The film is being marketed toward Latino audiences; but those audiences deserve more respect. There is no single director named for the film, with the primary credit listed as “La Raza,” which in English is “The People,” so one must assume directing choices were made by committee. With the machismo posturing, violence against women, poor visual quality, and muddy sound, getting through this film is a slog. The material is vicious, regressive, and stays that way, neither enlightening nor entertaining.
Black Ruby (2019) Directed by La Raza , Zachary Laoutides, Mónica Esmeralda León. Written by Zachary Laoutides. Starring Zachary Laoutides, Ric Morgan, Krystal E. Heredia.
5 out of 10
Good comments underneath this movie review beforehand. It is interesting how Bradley Gibson accuses Latino filmmakers of making a racist film and when several comments point out that his own movie review can be interpreted as racist all the comments are since removed.
So, I guess the only opinion on this film is the ‘White’ opinion…? No need for minorities to voice their artistic expression about the film or have people of color chime in with their own perspective…
That being said, I’m not the biggest fan of the film. Black Ruby was to art house for my taste, but please don’t insult minority audience viewers by surprising their voice.
Sorry Bradley, being half Latina and half African American I don’t believe the film is racist and I do believe your movie review is presumptuous and in fact racist.
Let’s see if my opinion actually stays on this comment thread or if only a white movie critic matters.
Cory the white guy here chiming in.
I watched Black Ruby, and have mixed feelings about the story. I lean towards a B- or C+ but I’m here to respond to the review.
This article has got it wrong regarding who plays who – Zachary Laoutides is Louis and Joseph Mennella is Jules. Second, I don’t see where the film is being marketed toward Latino audiences? Is it because the director is called La Raza? That is a racial presumption if there ever was one. Some research would have cleared this up by researching the studio Ave Fenix Pictures. Google La Raza filmaking and Wikipedia pops up with a definition. Just because Hispanics created the La Raza filmmaking method doesn’t mean the film is only for Latino’s audiences. That’s not the case at all.
Also, who is Latino in the film? Ruby, the female lead only mentions her ethnic origin once – she says she’s from the Dominican Republic. Also, Zachary Laoutides is playing a Jewish character – he recites a Jewish prayer after his fight.
Isn’t the entire film about prejudice and abusive behavior? Quazy, the African American pimp is narrating the film comically and using his street observations and ‘Ruby’ analogies – Jules finding a ‘ruby in the rough,’ he’s trying to ‘polish her’ make her into something beautiful.
Jules has his own racial prejudices, ‘Like my grandfather always used to say whatever you do don’t bring home a black girl,’ also his Semitic rant at Louis, ‘Where would you be without my brotherly love for you, you’d be a Jew from America going back to his homeland to kills Arabs.’ Isn’t that what Louis actually did…
Louis tells Quazy he’s Israeli Special Forces to promote a fight. Louis also tells Ruby that she looks like the girl he killed thus he protects her and cares about her throughout the film.
Sadly, I believe this review has cultural insensitivity and misses the entire point of the film quickly throwing out the race card for no apparent reason when the characters and storyline are actually showing you what it is to live in a world of prejudices purposefully.
To be crystal clear: the criticism is of the character, not the actress, but the character created by the script writer. Also, being a minority does not make one automatically free of racism, nor does it necessarily make one an expert on one’s own ethnicity. I found the script offensive to women and racially insensitive. As always, it’s just an opinion. Your mileage may vary.
Interesting, a film made by Hispanics and yet a white movie critic accusing minority filmmakers of how the film is racist and compares the lead actress (who is Hispanic and African American) to “less of a human being than a dirty damsel in distress sex doll.”