source: Mixing Nia

Moviecut—Mixing Nia

source: Mixing Nia

Mixing Nia is an admirable attempt at showing the extent in which the elements of race, consumerism and social ideology cloud people's judgements as to who they are. The focus in this particular case is Nia, a bi – racial woman who is going through life subconsciously unsure of her identity. After being assigned an Ad campaign which targets alcohol at young black men, Nia comes to the realisation not only of the amorality of her working environment but that she has lost her sense of self within the corporate world. The film shows the evil of this Ad campaign with a haunting vision of a young imaginary boy holding a bottle of alcohol, playing on Nia's conscience. Soon Mixing Nia moves away from the consumerism aspect and more into race and social ideology as Nia looks for who she really is. In her personal quest Nia tries to write a novel based upon life within black culture. From writing about the Black Panthers with their weapons and symbolic clothing to attempting a revenge story based in the ghetto with large uses of slang. Some have argued that Mixing Nia is contradictory in its context. It is the case in other factors of the film but not here. It may seem that the ideas for the novel Nia has seem stereotypical but it shows how isolated she has become from an element of her heritage due to the yuppie lifestyle she led whilst working as an advertiser. The contradictions begin when Nia becomes romantically involved with two men. Lewis, a black lecturer who teaches the literature of African – Americans and Matt, Nia's former co – worker who happens to be white. Going to and from these men Nia uses each relationship as a way of trying to uncover her true identity. Becoming a vegetarian and being infused with narrow minded thoughts from Lewis while being sucked back into the yuppie lifestyle by Matt. Mixing Nia is meant to be about Nia finding herself independently yet in this case she seeks her identity on the dependency of romantic entanglement which contradicts what the film is trying to portray. Even when she finally finds her true self and is able to share it with the world; the catalyst which helped Nia was not herself but a gift from a male friend who she ran to after rejecting both Lewis and Matt. Again Mixing Nia gives off mixed signals, Nia was meant to find who she is on her own but throughout and in the end it was the influence of the men in her life which helped her to succeed. Despite these contradictions in some sections, Nia's wanted transition was assured and Mixing Nia is still a provoking piece on the way in which social elements either with good or bad intentions hinder self identity making the statement that it's not your race or the lifestyle you lead what matters, it's yourself.

"Mixing Nia" tells of a "color blind" half black, half white New York City career woman who wrestles with her identity in a race conscious world. A light drama with "low budget indie" written all over it, "Mixing Nia" is flawed but manages a nominally good story, screenplay, and script. A little flick whose heart is in the right place and a good stop for channel surfers.

Dad is white, mom is black. Nia grew up and went to school in the New Jersey suburbs, and doesn't know anything about living and being black. She tries a couple of boyfriends. One has the map of africa in his bedroom, the other is a preppy ivy-league type. Asked to choose, she can't. Help comes from a house-mate musician, who plays different instruments to her hears and eyes shut, asking her to choose the right sound for her. And after she chooses and opens her eyes, she asks what instrument it was, and adding more insecurity, it was a Senegalese musical instrument. Eventually, Nia finds her voice. Was shown in Pittsburgh in 1999 at the second annual afro-american film festival.

A thoroughly enjoyable film about a mixed race woman finding her roots in New York City. Nia is a successful copywriter living a white yuppie life style. When she is asked to make an advertising campaign selling beer to ghetto kids, she leaves in disgust and embarks on a journey of self discovery. Along the way she acquires her first black boyfriend as well as a number of other admirers. And finally finds who she really is. This film is beautifully shot in NYC and uses some very interesting locations. The pace of the film is well set and you never get the feeling that when is it going to end. What I found very admirable was that it was not and did not try to be judgemental about where a mixed race person should belong and comes across as just be yourself. The romance is cute and the funny parts are genuinely funny. Altogether an excellent film... now if only it was available on DVD ;-)

The thing that struck me most about this film, was that it was a very personal look into a someone's life. On the surface, that would make it inaccessible to most, but in fact the exact opposite is true. It touches on some universal truths about finding one's way (or one's voice) in the face of so many conflicting influences. Although, I wouldn't dare relate my own experiences to those of Nia. It's nice to see a film that can speak to many and few at the same time.

This movie explores some potentially explosive ideas, but does so in a very light and good humored way--which is very refreshing in light of the desperately serious and overwrought works usually associated with racial issues (see anything by Spike Lee for an example). Nia is about as white bread, middle class and suburban as they come. Problem is her mother is black, dad white. What's the problem? She fits perfectly into mainstream culture in work, manner of dress, attitudes, speech, books. But her life is somewhat upended when she quits her job over an objectionable advertising assignment related to marketing beer to the inner city. This raises her consciousness about her own situation and racial identity, and triggers the age old search for "who I am." The problems Nia faces are pretty standard for any young woman: job, family, friends, and romance. Each one is examined as Nia, a genuinely nice person, tries to deal with the extra layer of difficulty presented by being biracial. Finding a boyfriend to suit her takes up most of the time. She is torn between the two worlds in the form of two suitors. Unfortunately these two worlds are represented by two basic stereotypes: An Afrocentric, jargon spouting, sexually aggressive black activist who hilariously wants to segregate Nia's books, black authors from white authors. The white suitor is a geeky pretty boy upper crust optimist who can't dance and is hopelessly clumsy in seducing Nia. The movie is most interesting when departing from these crude stereotypes, like Nia's hamfisted attempt at fitting into black culture by taking her black boyfriend to a soul restaurant only to find that he's a vegetarian and can't eat anything on the menu. The movie tends to concentrate on Nia's attempt to come to terms with her black half--sometimes directly at odds with her otherwise white existence: She is shocked when she hears her new boyfriend and a black female friend's cruel racism against her white friend; or when her very liberal white father confronts her new black boyfriend's anti-integrationism. The movie doesn't offer any real resolution, nor is one really expected. This is a modest movie, exploring some sensitive issues in a very lighthearted way. The flaws are minor, some stereotyping in order to get a point across, and some attempts at humor which don't quite work, but altogether an enjoyable attempt to bring down the volume.

Nia is a mixed race woman working in an ad agency who leaves when forced to market beer to young inner-city blacks. She sets out to write a novel and, by doing so starts on a voyage of discovery regarding her own identity. Karen Parsons is not a great actress - she's probably best known for Hilary in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" series, however here she does manage to lend an air of believability to her mixed up character. Changing her impression of her identity in line with her men: she is passionately pro-black when dating her Afro-American studies professor while care free and yuppie-style when dating her work colleague. She manages to convey the roots of her confusion without having to overplay any scenes in particular. Supporting cast are uniformly great - Isaiah Washington stands out as the professor who may be more racially intolerant than her racist colleagues. None of the characters are overly stereotyped (in fact black stereotypes are made fun of in comic interludes) but rather come across as ordinary people who gradually expose themselves to be as messed up about race as Nia is. The overall message that each person should find there own identity based on your experience rather than basing yourself on a culture or a lifestyle is simply made but is not done in a patronising way - in fact when the point is spelt out for the audience we've already been allowed to decide this for ourselves. This is not rocket science - a gentle story that has a set point to make and makes it in a comic, entertaining and rewarding manner.