The Tale of Four: Gabourey Sidibe's Charged Directorial Debut

The Tale of Four film poster.

Promise reveals itself through the thoughtful directorial debut of Oscar nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe. Between delicately plucking tender flowers to passionately snatching the plants out of their soil pots, Sidibe breaks open Nina Simone's powerful song, "Four Women," composing a short narrative that places itself into contemporary America. In the course of a single day, four different women occupy an apartment complex, facing personal turmoil, coping with images and events that lead to emotional and mental health fragilities that black women must often confront alone, without support. It has always been a disturbing perception that black people, black women in particular, are conditioned to be strong, to be so above showing emotional "weakness."

The Tale of Four shares the struggles, triumphs, and failures of Aunt Sarah, Saffronia, Sweet Thing, and Peaches.

Ledisi is Aunt Sarah.

First, duress and agitated, the black Aunt Sarah, obviously broken by the murder of a black man, cannot bear playing the parental role to two children whom so desperately need her. She is a morose creature, restless demons haunting the despair in her eyes, the burden weighing heavily upon someone so grossly unprepared for offering love to those in need.

Megan Kimberly Smith is Saffronia.

Battered and beaten, Saffronia, on the other hand, is the yellow scarred teen hiding secrets to her mother. In fact, this daughter/mother are both keeping traumatic wounds from each other, these wounds being emotional, sexual, and physical manifestations that must get out in some way before swallowed into internal gutter.

Dana Gourrier is Sweet Thing.

Confident and cocky, Sweet Thing is the tan, curvy vixen who wields sex as a weapon, as her sultry power source. She is raw and sensual. Yet brewing beneath the need for instant gratification, lies a desire for a deeper, fulfilling connection, something much more beautiful than the easy seconds to discard one's body for the empty, meaningless pleasure.  

Aisha Hinds is Peaches.

Peaches is the brown reckless crusader, a power-to-the people savior. Her room is an aggressive triggering of past images. From Emmitt Till's casket photos to slain young black people of our now, the little pictures and newspaper clippings that surround her add fuel to her angry rants, the flare of her message seemingly breaking the fourth wall, instructing viewers to take immediate charge, to bear no more suffering in an unjust society that has never wanted to be equal with any minorities. 

Gabourey Sidibe on set.

The Tale of Four's script is written by Ayanna McMichael and Kia Perry, two women who have worked in various departments of the film industry. This is their first imDb writing credit and the joined effort is pretty solid. It is definitely one of the most captivating perspective's of Nina's wondrous song. There is depth here as if they took the lyrics apart piece by piece and set these individual characters in this specific place, in this specific time. The performances also strengthened the short, especially the gritty significance of Peaches, that rough, embittered particle that passionately screams out injustice. 

Therefore, this short is a resonating piece to add to anyone's Black History Month roster.