Synopsis
A grieving widower is drawn into a custody battle over his granddaughter, whom he helped raise her entire life.
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Cast
- Kevin CostnerElliot Anderson
- Jillian EstellEloise Anderson
- Jennifer EhleCarol
- Gillian JacobsFay
- Octavia SpencerRowena Jeffers
- Bill BurrRick Reynolds
- Joe ChrestDave
- IndigoYoung Nurse
- Mpho KoahoDuvan
- Angela JonesRita
- 75
Movie Nation
“Selma” wasn’t the only film about race to get short shrift from Oscar voters this past year. Black or White is a frank, touching and very well-acted melodrama about child custody and cultural perceptions of “blackness” and “the race card,” and could have earned Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner fresh Oscar nominations. - 75
Observer
Good acting and plenty to think about, but a better director than Mike Binder would have made a better film. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Black and White never panders too easily to sentiments, creating characters who are riddled with flaws but likeable all the same. - 70
Los Angeles Times
The filmmaker and his on-screen proxies boldly go places our national discourse desperately needs to go, yet rarely does. - 50
Variety
The good news is that Kevin Costner does some of the finest, most deeply felt work of his career as a widower lawyer fighting for custody of his biracial granddaughter in Mike Binder’s Black and White. The bad news is that this well-intentioned family drama never quite shakes free from its didactic, movie-of-the-week dramaturgy and a hand-holding approach to race-relations. - 50
New York Post
Despite excellent performances by Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer and other cast members, Mike Binder’s racially tinged custody battle drama Black or White never achieves much in the way of dramatic credibility. - 40
Village Voice
Occasionally, the film rouses into something thoughtful, even daring. - 40
Austin Chronicle
Black or White is a film all about matters of race that hardly matters at all.