Black Nativity

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Black Nativity

PG,

2013,

1h 33m,

Holiday/

Musical/

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

51%

86 Reviews

Tomatometer

42%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

51%

Tomatometer

86 Reviews

42%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Langston (Jacob Latimore), a Baltimore teen raised by a single mother (Jennifer Hudson), travels to New York City to spend the Christmas holiday with estranged relatives, the Rev. Cornell Cobbs (Forest Whitaker) and his wife, Aretha (Angela Bassett). However, Langston soon finds that Cobbs has strict rules, and the youth is unwilling to follow them. Instead, he sets out on a return journey to his mother and finds the value of faith, healing and family along the way.

Critics Consensus

It's sweetly amiable and solidly performed, but Black Nativity suffers from director Kasi Lemmons' heavy-handed treatment of its celebrated source material.

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Dwight Brown

National Newspaper Publishers Association

Mar 21, 2017

Black Nativity is a jubilant experience.

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Wesley Morris

Grantland

Dec 10, 2013

All of Black Nativity proceeds with sort of clumsy obviousness.

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Max Nelson

Film Comment Magazine

Dec 9, 2013

To my eyes, Black Nativity is the cinematic equivalent of a Christmas tree ornament: shiny, hollow, sheathed in decorative, artificial linings, mass-produced and, given the cost of today's movie theater tickets, overpriced.

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Sep 3, 2020

3.0/4.0

If not for the presence of Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, Black Nativity would likely be an easily tossed away film for anyone.

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Allen Almachar

The MacGuffin

Jul 28, 2020

B-

We're in that strange area where a film balances between two opposite ends: it's impossible to hate, but really tough to love

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Julian Lytle

Punch Drunk Critics

Jan 11, 2020

2.5/5

To wrap up, Black Nativity isn't the best holiday film we have this season and probably won't clean up at the cinema because in the end it's just a quite average movie.

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Rey R

Apr 27, 2019

Loved it! The mustc was awesome. I'm so proud Kasi Lemmons and the attributes she will bring to young people that want to become directors or screen writers. There's a great message in this movie through music.

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Draco L

Apr 16, 2018

Joyful in all the right places.

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Kasi Lemmons

Director

Forest Whitaker

Rev. Cornell Cobbs

Angela Bassett

Aretha Cobbs

Jennifer Hudson

Naima

Tyrese Gibson

Loot

Jacob Latimore

Langston

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Synopsis

Langston (Jacob Latimore), a Baltimore teen raised by a single mother (Jennifer Hudson), travels to New York City to spend the Christmas holiday with estranged relatives, the Rev. Cornell Cobbs (Forest Whitaker) and his wife, Aretha (Angela Bassett). However, Langston soon finds that Cobbs has strict rules, and the youth is unwilling to follow them. Instead, he sets out on a return journey to his mother and finds the value of faith, healing and family along the way.

Director: Kasi Lemmons
Producer: Celine Rattray, William Horberg, Galt Niederhoffer, T. D. Jakes
Screenwriter: Kasi Lemmons
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Wonderful Films, Maven Pictures
Rating: PG (Language|A Menacing Situation|Thematic Material)
Genre: Holiday, Musical, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 27, 2013, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 31, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $7.0M
Runtime: 1h 33m
Sound Mix: Datasat, SDDS, Dolby Digital

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