hashtag bazodee for bazodee - for danna

When I first saw the trailer for Bazodee, I had planned to take John and Derek to see a movie set in Trinidad that included Carnival, which they ain't ever going to see, trust me. Well, maybe Derek will, but I not getting my hopes up over here!

But then Danna said she was coming to NY for one night and do me and my man want to lime with she and she man? My man had something or other so it was me and dem. It hit me during the day of the night we supposed to lime that she might like to go see the flim so I rang her hotel and we arranged to meet for dinner close to the theater in Times Square in case we felt like it.

Best decision ever. That movie needs to be seen with a Trini.

Now, here is my deal. I am not a big fan of Trini behaviors at cinemas and on airplanes. That is my cross to bear. I yell at the screen, sure. In my house! Where I annoy no one but my husband who annoys me more because he and Derek comment about everything. In the Trinidad portion of Naipaul's A Middle Passage, some cinema is showing To Have and Have Not and the star boy ask the star girl where she from and she say, "Trinidad and Tobago" and an audience member shouts out, "You lie!" And we all die dead.

Funny as that is, I have issues with people talking and yelling at the screen when I trying to watch a movie I pay too damn much money for. However. This was a mighty exception and going with Dann was inspired. She is refined and elegant and goodly, but can be dutty when the mood sets. She not easy.

When we went to buy tix, the tix person said plenty people buying, so we better hurry and go get our seats. Thankfully, we had already eaten dinner so we didn't need to join the long-ass line for popcorn. Our theater was empty when we got there and we got the best seats smack-dab in the middle. And then the place turn into the Trini posse stand from the Oval!

We had the best time. The movie was beyond adorable and much much better than I expected. The production value was incredibly high and Danna was shouting out places she recognized. Ok... maybe not shouting, but she was on like a socks. Even I, who rarely ever leaves PoS whenever I go back, was recognizing all kinda beach and ting.

Also Remy. Em... where they hiding dat all this time??? Dread! He shoulda be in every scene. 

Ok. Plot. A little bit of Much Ado About Nothing. What? I pay for that English degree, you think I ent going to use it here? Damn lie. 

Also, spoilers.

Anyhoo, there was the enemies-become-lovers trope that was silly but cute. There was the evil Prince John who got some comeuppance and got good in the end. I think I went to school with that fella, but I can't remember him too good. 

Machel and Natalie were in it to win it. Machel as a romantic hero was surprisingly believable and convincing. He even managed to contain his Machel-ness in the performance scenes, where Lee de Leon was making a tentative comeback and not really sure about his waist. Lee loves being on stage, just like Machel but he doesn't have Machel-confidence and he is afraid of failing. So when he performs "You" he is lovely and oddly restrained, which is perfect. If you looking for dutty Machel, wait till he come back to the Garden. 

Machel and Natalie have terrific chemistry. As a brown girl who had a ting with a rastaman in another life, it doesn't take much to convince me that inter-racial relationships can happen. I'm also in another kind of inter-racial relationship, as is Danna, so we were happy to represent! 

The star couple were too sweet together. And although the movie was a musical it wasn't a Bollywood Juhi-Chawla-runs-through-the-trees kinda movie. It is set around Carnival and shot right at the beginning of the season when the energy was fresh and high in the country. 

So the theater. Surprisingly more restrained than I expected. There was a back row click, as expected, and they jump up to everything. When the star girl get ketch out, someone bawl out, "party done" and we dead. And the flim deserve the clap it get at the end. (Why people does do that I not sure, but this time it was def about the experience of seeing it as much as for the movie itself.)

But the bes was when me and Dann were leaving the theater and were so into the talk that we couldn't find the exit! Danna call it: "We so Bazodee!!!" For reals. We had to take a minute, stop laughing, and try to make our way back to the street! It was a process. 

So I want to see it again, and see it with Danna and my own Trini posse. I downloaded the soundtrack yesterday and it's on repeat on my iPod and on Spotify in the office so I can wine like a champion in my sexy office chair. So don't hate on the movie because it from Trinidad or it have Machel in it or just because you is a ass. Go see it and enjoy being a Trini for 101 minutes in your life.