Gets a difficult job done right: telling a Black woman's story on the screen. It tells that story with no frills, no gimmicks, no myths, and no pulled punches. It's real from jump.

There is no nostalgia in Roxanne Roxanne, none of that warm halo that surrounds The Get Down. The best times for hiphop were very bad times for Shanté: her mother imploding into alcohol addiction, her moments of homelessness, her bruises.

Instead of riding a roller coaster of disillusionment, Larnell creates Passion Play, and a periodically tedious one at that.