In Lee Daniels's The Butler, painful social realities collide with delirious fantasy.
by Ben Sachs
In each of the four films he's directed, Lee Daniels has created moments unlike anything else I've seen in American narrative cinema. To list a few examples: There's R&B singer Macy Gray in Shadowboxer (2005), uncomfortably wearing heels and a fancy dress a few sizes too small, trying to break plans with a rich mobster she knows wants her dead, comically slurring, "I'm busy this weekend.…[ Read more ]