After premiering earlier that same year at the Sundance Film Festival, Theodore Witcher’s Love Jones was released on this day in 1997. It ultimately left the renowned Park City festival with the Dramatic Audience Award and a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize. The movie was the first for writer-director Witcher, who went on to write the little-seen Body Count starring Forest Whitaker. Larenz Tate lent his acting chops to this movie’s talented cast (including Nia Long and Isaiah Washington), deftly moving through the urban streets of the Chicago poetry scene and the tribulations of love. With characters all at once general and race-specific, Love Jones made an impact on the future of black cinema.
Factoid: Larenz Tate won notice for his portrayal of Darius Lovehall in this small-scale dramedy about love—quite different from his previous roles as a Vietnam vet in 1995’s Dead Presidents and troubled O-Dog in Menace II Society. For his turn as the lovelorn poet, the actor received a nomination from the Acapulco Black Film Festival, but lost to veteran scene-stealer Samuel L. Jackson. It only took one year for the award to catch up with him though: Tate won the same award the following year for Why Do Fools Fall in Love.
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