She’s Gotta Have It
Spike Lee, USA, 1986o
The breakthrough film for the incomparable Spike Lee. The story of Nola Darling's simultaneous sexual relationships with three different men is told by her and by her partners and other friends. All three men wanted her to commit solely to them; Nola resists being "owned" by a single partner. Rarely has a black female protagonist been given such agency in a narrative film as Nola in this one. An energetic treatise on sex and power and modern urban existence. With impeccable cinematography by the great Ernest Dickerson.