For Colored Girls (2010)

“Somebody almost walked off wiith all my stuff.”

Join Ian & Liam for our 312th episode as we step into the emotionally raw, confrontational, and fiercely theatrical world of For Colored Girls (2010) — a film that asks big questions about pain, survival, and voice, and demands we sit with the discomfort of its delivery. We’re later joined by BFF of the BFE: Juleen for The Endgame, as we try to make sense of what hits hardest… and what doesn’t land at all.

This week we discuss:

• Whether For Colored Girls successfully translates from stage to screen — or if something vital is lost in the move from choreopoem to cinema.
• The central tension — is it possible to fully agree with a film’s message and still believe it’s not a well-made film?
• The sheer level of star power — and why the performances feel wildly disparate. Which ones moved us, which ones frustrated us, and which ones actively pulled us out of the film.
• Who unexpectedly steals the show — emerging from the ensemble to deliver a performance that cuts through everything else.
• The question of tone — is there simply too much poetry here, even when it’s beautifully spoken and powerfully performed?
• How close this film came to being worse — and how an originally cast actress’s pregnancy may have unintentionally saved the film from an even harsher imbalance.
• Ian questions the film’s direction and framing — does Tyler Perry trust the material enough, or does the camera overemphasise emotion that should be allowed to breathe?
• Liam explores the film’s confrontational style — is the lack of subtlety a flaw, or is subtlety beside the point entirely?
• The emotional toll — is the film asking us to witness pain, process it, or simply endure it?
• Juleen joins us for The Endgame — bringing insight, perspective, and lived context to the discussion, and helping us unpack what the film is reaching for, even when it misses.
• The ending — cathartic, overwhelming, or emotionally blunt? We unpack whether the final moments feel earned.
• And finally, whether For Colored Girls is the Best Film Ever — or a deeply important work whose ambition outpaces its execution.

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• Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM
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Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/