Taglines: Private school. Hard knocks.
Selah and the Spades Movie Storyline. Selah (Celeste O’Connor) is a senior at a Pennsylvania boarding school, where she leads a faction of students called the Spades who sell drugs to other students. The school has four other factions but unlike the others Selah has no one to replace her when she graduates.
Maxxie is her right-hand man, and together they have developed a secret, efficient operation. A new girl, Paloma, transfers into the school, and when she photographs Selah during Spirit Squad practice, Selah immediately sees her talent. Selah asks Paloma to take incriminating photos of her rival Bobby cheating on her boyfriend, thrusting Paloma into the school’s drama. Selah tells Maxxie that Paloma reminds her of herself, and decides to begin grooming her to take over. Paloma is a fast learner and quickly proves herself in the Spades.
Rumors circulate that there is a rat among the Spades, and after some investigating, Selah discovers that Maxxie had been careless with the ledger used to record their sales, which had caused incorrect orders and affected their reputation. Selah confronts him and ultimately fires him.
The Headmaster announces that due to misconduct of a few of the students, prom has been cancelled. At an emergency meeting of the factions, Selah and Bobby are at each other’s throats casting blame for the prom-cancellation, but Paloma instead suggests that they throw their own prom outside of the school grounds. Each faction agrees to help with a different aspect to make sure the dance is a success. In private, Bobby asks Paloma if she knows about Teela, the girl who was in her position before, and warns her that Selah had drugged her, causing a car crash and ultimately her expulsion. When Paloma asks Selah about Teela, Selah refuses to give a straight answer. After that conversation, Selah digs out a vial of drugs and stashes one of them in her pocket.
Selah and the Spades is a 2019 American drama film, written and directed by Tayarisha Poe, in her feature directorial debut. It stars Lovie Simone, Celeste O’Connor, Jharrel Jerome, Gina Torres, and Jesse Williams. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2019. It was released on April 17, 2020, by Amazon Studios.
Film Review for Selah and the Spades
ew onscreen playgrounds allow black youth to be wild and free without punishment. However, “Selah and The Spades,” Tayarisha Poe’s feature film directorial debut, gives space for black teens to go through growing pains, shift through emotions, and make bad decisions without consequence. The film first premiered as a NEXT selection at Sundance last year and makes its way to Amazon Prime, joining the slew of other movies available to stream in April. Poe creates this space Haldwell, a fictitious Pennsylvania boarding school, as the backdrop for viewers to get a glimpse into the high school senior Selah’s carefree life.
Like the novel “Lord of the Flies” the youth at Haldwell govern themselves. They are controlled by five student body factions: The Spades, The Seas, The Skins, The Bobbies, and The Perfects factions. Selah (Lovie Simone) runs the most prominent of these, The Spades, who are a group of drug dealers. Along with Selah, the film focuses on her right-hand man Maxxie (Emmy winner Jharrel Jerome), and their newest recruit, Paloma (Celeste O’Connor). Throughout the film, viewers get an intimate view of the experiences of black kids in a boarding school environment, while also focusing on Selah. As the most popular girl in school, she knows she has power, but throughout the film, she learns what she’s willing to compromise for that power.
This power struggle is explored as Selah mentors Paloma, a transfer student who is an observant free-spirited photographer. Selah is graduating soon and hopes to train Paloma to follow in her footsteps. Viewers get to know Selah as a popular mean girl who leads both her cheer squad and The Spades with manipulation and perfectionism. As the film progresses, Selah finds herself in constant conflict with her identity, struggling to reconcile the straight-A student she presents to her mother, with the cool street boss she presents to her peers.
This imaginative world doubles as a journey into Poe’s truth of coming of age without the burdens of historical traumas weighing into her everyday decisions as a black student in boarding school. Poe shares with Salon her experience attending boarding school, creating a film where the black kids get to misbehave, and the process of getting a film made without a historical trauma-based story arc.
What sort of high school did you attend? Were there secret societies in your high school like in the film, and if so were you a part of one?
I grew up in Southwest Philadelphia, around Baltimore Avenue, where I spent most of my childhood and my 20s. I went to The Peddie School, a boarding school in New Jersey. We had this secret society at my high school, it was called the Secret Society of Eight, and you were invited in by someone who was about to graduate. The whole point of this secret society was to do good things for people on campus. If someone had a game the next day, then we would decorate their room, get them a cake, or just something sweet. During finals, we would go around delivering candy.
What character in the film best reflects who you were in high school?
Selah and the Spades (2020)
Directed by: Tayarisha Poe
Starring: Lovie Simone, Celeste O’Connor, Jharrel Jerome, Gina Torres, Jesse Williams, Ana Mulvoy-Ten, Benjamin Breault, Henry Hunter-Hall, Evan Roe, Francesca Noel, Cody Sloan, Rae Bell
Screenplay by: Tayarisha Poe
Production Design by: Valeria De Felice
Cinematography by: Jomo Fray
Film Editing by: Kate Abernathy
Costume Design by: Jami Villers
Set Decoration by: Suja Ono
Art Direction by: Taisa Malouf
Music by: Aska Matsumiya
MPAA Rating: R for teen drug content, and language.
Distributed by: Amazon Studios
Release Date: January 27, 2019 (Sundance), April 17, 2020 (United States)
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