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| Alexandra Burke and Natey Jones in Pretty Red Dress |
Cast: Natey Jones, Alexandra Burke, Temilola Olatunbosun, Rolan Bell, Ben Caplan, Nicholas Bishop, Maria Almeida, Edwin De La Renta, Angie Le Mar, Mark Monero, Dexter Flanders. Screenplay: Dionne Edwards. Cinematography: Adam Scarth. Production design: Phoebe Platman. Film editing: Adonis Trattos. Music: Hugo Brijs.
In her debut feature, Pretty Red Dress, Dionne Edwards grapples with issues of gender but finally loses her grip on them in an effort to resolve the plot. Just out of prison, Travis (Natey Jones) goes home to his partner, Candice (Alexandra Burke), and their teenage daughter, Kenisha (Temilola Olatunbosun), seeking to start his life again. Candice, a singer who works as a cashier in a supermarket, is trying to make her dreams come true: She's auditioning to play Tina Turner in a new musical, and she and Travis spot the perfect dress in a shop window. It's too expensive for her salary, however, so Travis reluctantly goes to work for his bullying older brother, Clive (Rolan Bell), and buys it for her. The bright red beaded dress seems to help her at the audition, but Travis is fascinated by it too. He yields to an old compulsion and furtively tries the dress on before the mirror, even borrowing Candice's lipstick. It's the beginning of a series of complications in their relationship, especially when Kenisha, who has been confronting her own sexual identity, walks in on him in the dress. Edwards avoids preachiness in her drama, but doesn't find a satisfying outcome for the film, avoiding sentimentality but leaving her characters in suspension. It's well-acted by the entire cast, and Burke's musical performances provide a highlight for the film.
