By Mary Anne Hempe
pop writer
When it comes to glass ceilings, it appears the one covering the Academy Award for best director is bulletproof.
Over the last 82 years, only three female directors (Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion and Sofia Coppola) have been nominated for Oscars, and all of them lost.
That streak simply can't go on forever, especially not with talented directors like Kasi Lemmons working behind the camera on powerful movies like "Talk to Me" (2007).
Our true story begins in 1966, when we meet Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene (the amazing Don Cheadle), an inmate at Lorton Reformatory outside Washington, D.C.
Petey's serving a 10-year stretch for armed robbery, but unlike many of his fellow cons, he's making the best of his time. Petey, who can talk his way in or out of anything, convinces the warden to let him act as the prison's DJ. With his natural gift of humor, his promise to always "keep it true," and a stack of great old soul records his grandmother sent him, Petey is a huge hit in the pen.
But Petey doesn't plan to make a career out of his prison gig. He wants to make it on the outside, with his own show aimed at the people in his old Washington neighborhood.
There's great change brewing in the country, and no one on air is talking about it. In fact, radio stations go to great lengths to keep their programming bland and safe. Petey wants people to wake up by talking about the issues facing his community and playing music with more punch than the Supremes.
Breaking into the business won't be easy for an alcoholic ex-con with no experience, but Petey is nothing if not persistent.
After he's released from prison through a clever con, Petey and his devoted girlfriend, Varnell (Taraji P. Henson), head straight to WOL, an AM station in Washington home to dated personalities like Sunny Jim Henson (Vondie Curtis Hall, Lemmons' real-life husband) and Nighthawk Bob Taylor (Cedric the Entertainer).
WOL also is home to director Dewey Hughes (British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor sporting a flawless American accent), the straight-laced brother of a Lorton inmate Petey knows. Petey made sure he met Dewey during one of his visits to the pen, and took Dewey's advice to "look him up" when he got out.
Petey assumed that meant a job was waiting for him, and there was -- as a janitor.
Furious, Petey doesn't let up. He bugs Dewey daily, even organizes protests outside WOL, until Dewey finally agrees to take him on as a DJ.
After a rocky start, Petey soon finds his comfort zone, playing super-charged music and taking calls from listeners, who tell it like it is, on air.
Petey is a DC powerhouse, but Dewey wants more. He wants to make the hilarious, hard-drinking Petey into an international superstar, which isn't what Petey wants.
More than just a bio-pic, "Talk to Me" also is the story of a great friendship between Petey and Dewey, who is still working in the music business (his son Michael Genet co-wrote the screenplay). Cheadle and Ejiofor are superb in the lead roles.
You can find "Talk to Me," rated R for "pervasive use of language," which is a bit of an understatement, at Hastings. Check it out.
