Love Jones Review Essay

The consummate ladies man, Darius cunning smooth presentation romises more sell than substance. And Ninas recently jilted heart isnt looking for anymore of copes tolerant of trouble. whap J wizards begins with Nina and her good girlfriend Josie Nichols (Lisa Nicole Carson) packing up whats leave of Ninas disappointing kindred. Fearful that the scars left from this failed romance may be too deep for her to heal, Josie takes her to a night-time poetry-slam at the Sanctuary, where she encounters Darius for the first time.The Sanctuary is the local conductn where poetry is the prime draw, and a favorite night bonk for Darius and his friends Savon Garrison (Isaiah Washington), Eddie Coles Leonard Roberts), Sheila Downes (Bernadette Clark, and Hollywood (Bill Bellamy). The romance dies surrounded by couples, we overhear Darius telling his friends from his understanding set, because theyVe (people) given up on the possibility of it. In an awkward installation at the bar, Nina catches Darius off-guard and, uncharacteristically, he fumbles and spills his drink on her.He recovers minutes after when called to the stage to recite wizard of his poems. He disembowels the most of the moment by calling his sensuous creation A Blues for Nina. Flattered nevertheless embarrassed, she informs him in front of his friends that there argon opics for poetry former(a) than sex activity. When he asks her to micturate one, she writes the word grapple on his hand. Everyone is impressed particularly Darius. Darius ventings into Nina at a record store managed by his friend, Sheila. She is there because she has Just been fired from her credit line as a photographers assistant and desperately needfully to hear the Isley Brothers.When Darius approaches her, she acts as thought she vaguely remembers his name. Darius seizes the opportunity though, by vie her a tender rendition of Parkers Mood. While Nina remains unreceptive at that point, she finally buckles and agrees to a conflict when Darius ppears, unannounced at her verge presenting the very CD she had been looking for at the record store. He bribed Sheila so he could repel her address and phone number off of the watch protrude she used to pay for a CD.His persistence pays off when a romantic statement l Just want to come up and trounce leads to a passionate night at her apartment. The next morning, Darius and Nina confide in their respective friends Savon and Josie that, in spite of the incredible sex, It aint no love thing, they Just kickin it. Unfortunately, these two individuals arent exactly the best advisors they could consider ound Josie is way down on men and lives her life vicariously by dint of Nina, and Savon is mired in the problems of his eight-year marriage (his wife left him and took their son).But Darius is acquiring interested. He even reveals to Nina the sacred location of the Batcave (his apartment), where some interesting rousing ensues when she whips out her camera and tells Darius to take off his wearing apparel. The romance advances. Then, out of the blue, Marvin coxswain (Khalil Kain), Ninas former fiance, shows up asking her for a second chance. At Josies suggestion, Nina uses the offer to test Darius Will he be Jealous, or coolly let her go? Darius pretends not to care, of course, and Nina moves to New York to see if she should recover her relationship with Marvin.Inevitably, Marvin and Ninas differences are irreconcilable, and Nina returns the engagement ring and then heads substantiate to Chicago. Hoping to reconnect with Darius, Nina and Josie go to the Sanctuary, to no avail. Darius has settled down with a new girlfriend, Lisa Oacqueline Fleming). Enter, Hollywood, whose affectionate competition with Darius enables him to sense a prime opportunity for one-upmanship. Wood kale by the portrait studio where Nina now works to cheer her up. Tensions run high when Wood brings Nina to Sheilas house for a party that he knows Dar ius will be attending.Nina, feeling alike a pawn in a bad game of male egos, asks Wood to take her home. He refuses and Darius comes to her rescue. Its their first meeting since she went to New York. She confesses she still has feeling for him, and he assures her that Lisa means nothing to him. Swooning, they make up and head for a date at the famous Blackstone Hotel. There, legendary Chicago DJ Herb Kent is hosting a steppers ball, featuring the inimitable dance style popular in Chicago. On the floor, Nina and Darius reach a eam again. The fire is relit as they complete the evening with a wet, exclusively romantic walk around Buckingham Fountain.Nina starts to inherit habits from Darius and vica versa. She starts smoking and develops a love for poetry. In return, he develops an eye for photography. But soon after their balancing everything starts to crumble. Nina finds Lisas telephone number around Darius apartment, and he gets the occasional surface-to-air missile call that ta kes him out of the room. The issue of dis avow rears its ugly head. Darius tries to smooth things over by whipping out her camera and telling her to take her clothes off, as she id in an earlier scene.But it is too late. Come get your things from my apartment wherefore would you be with someone you dont trust? The scene ends with Nina returning the key. Because of a Job offer from Vibe cartridge clip in New York, Nina decides to move. Josie, serving as a averse Cupid, intercedes by telling Darius of Ninas plans. He takes the cue and makes a gallant but futile effort to talk to Nina before she leaves. A year later, his moderate has been published, her career is off and running and Nina has been sent to Chicago to shot a Michael Jordan layout.Looking in vain for Darius t the Sanctuary, Nina takes the stage to recite a poem of her own. Startled, Darius turns and listens to her recital, which is about love remembered. Funny what you move do in front of a room full of people, she s ays, and cant do in front of one person. The movie ends with Nina leaving the Sanctuary and eyesight Darius outside. Darius starts off by saying, Longtime no see. I enjoyed your poem. Nina, there have been mistakes on both sides and I apologize for my part. I want to sick the past in the past. Once again your timing couldnt be worse you always want what you want hen you want it why is everything so urgent, Nina says. Nina, this here, right now, at this very moment, is all that matters to me. I love you and thats urgent like a mother fucker. love Jones shows that love can be inconvenient. It encourages everyone to approach love the way Nina and Darius do scared, awkward, and even sometimes alone. Theres the obligatory handful of tragical misunderstandings, prideful arguments, over-orchestrated sex scenes, and betrayal and reconciliations. ove Jones steps back, allowing its characters to closely quiz what is happening to them. They analyze their own instincts wonder about each others feelings and even plot little traps to reveal the others true intentions Nina and Darius relationship is built upon the use of some key things sex and sexual invitations, pick-up lines and relationship openers, music and poetry, the actions of all the movies characters, friends being confidants and advisors, and the use of Baxters techniques to acquire information about the relationship play vital roles.Their relationship proves that the movement in and out of the interaction stages is not set in stone. The stages conform to your situation. Nina and Darius seem to ollow this type of pattern initiating, experimenting, intensifying, terminating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, bonding, stagnating, terminating, and initiating. They are also struggle with the roles society has laid out for women and men. And are both trying to fgure out how to play without getting played.Theyre both secretly wonder how you get beyond playing and move on to the love. When youre in your twenties, as Nina and Darius were, loving someone outside your friends and family can seem like a task for Mother Theresa. We twenty- somethings have been unleashed from our parents and the chances to experience exual encounters of all sorts are numerous. But flirting and playing is one thing. Building relationships with the human objects of our desires is a challenge that many of us fail at miserably.At one point in the movie, Darius asks his married friend Savon if he believes in the fancy of soulmates. Savons response is that it depends on what day you ask him. Youre with who youre with, he says. Love and marriage are pretty much what you make of them. love Jones doesnt fully answer the soulmate question. In the end, we are save promised that Nina and Darius will be together as long as their view in he possibility of romance lasts. eeting in a bar, the reluctant coupling, the Jealously and conflict, even a mad rush by one lover to stop the other from leaving on a train. love J ones showed me that there is Just no way around it Love between a man and a woman is hard work. A certain effort to relate to the opposite sex is whats needed if were going to get the satisfaction we crave from that someone special. Our twenties can be about a lot more than simply getting our groove on. We can build lives with people while we are enjoying the raw experiences we are having in our youth.