Alma’s Rainbow review – a stylish gem

One of the first feature length narrative dramas written, directed and produced by a Black American woman in the 20th century is Ayoka Chenzira’s debut, Alma’s Rainbow. It’s a vibrant ’90s time capsule centred on a teenage girl who is discovering herself while Strict Mom and Cool Aunt seem to be butting heads in the background. There’s a lot of depth here too, beyond what the premise suggests. The film didn’t receive a wide enough release at the time, as distributors in the ’90s only seemed interested in telling certain types of Black stories. Despite independent cinema having a moment too, plenty of gems (including this one) ended up falling through the cracks.

Rainbow Gold (Victoria Gabrielle Platt) is the teenage girl at the heart of the film, who can’t understand why she has to either commit to the tomboyish garb she’s in when performing in a hip-hop dance crew, or conform to a more feminine look. Her mother Alma (Kim Weston-Moran) runs a beauty parlour out of their stunning Brooklyn townhouse, a natural space of community for other women of colour in the neighbourhood. Alarmed by her daughter’s budding sexuality, Alma keeps reminding her to “stay away from boys”. But when Alma’s flamboyant sister Ruby (Mizan Kirby) turns up after a 10 year long absence trying to make it in Paris as an actress, the two end up clashing over what direction they think Rainbow’s life should take.

Fascinated with her aunt’s larger-than-life spirit, Rainbow begins dreaming about life as a performer, even as her dance crew is falling apart due to her male partners becoming more interested in chasing after girls than in rehearsing. Chenzira focuses her energy on putting this matriarchal trifecta of conflicting personalities front and centre. Rainbow, Alma and Ruby are intimately fleshed out and make a compelling core to this extremely stylish picture. By the end of the film, all three women’s journeys are influenced by their relationships with one another, attesting to Chenzira’s ability to explore the complexities Black womanhood in a way that’s charming, subtle but bold all the same.

Sure, the film is rough around the edges – some of the writing feels uneven, some performances feel much better suited to the stage and there are some distracting ADR issues. But if we look past the obvious limitations of a shoestring budget, we find a gift: a lovely, tactile film with such a nuanced depiction of the ever-shifting tides of mother/daughter dynamics, overflowing with love and care as much as it is with a vibrant colour palette and gorgeous textures.

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