What’s top-two on a Black man’s worst fear list? Getting stopped by the cops and having an endangered white woman on your hands. In Carey Williams’ 2022 Sundance Film Fest feature “Emergency,” main players Kunle and Sean are the untimely and unlucky lotto winners of both.
In “Emergency,” straight-A college student Kunle and his laid-back best friend, Sean, are about to have the most epic night of their lives. Determined to be the first Black students to complete their school’s frat party legendary tour, the friends strap in for their ultimate assignment, red solo cups in hand. But a quick pit stop at home alters their plans when they find a white girl passed out on the living room floor. Faced with the risk of calling the police under life-threatening optics, Kunle, Sean, and their Latino roommate, Carlos, must find a way to de-escalate the situation before it’s too late.
“Emergency” begins like your typical college tale – two best friends; Sean – an outspoken, party-going “slacker” who takes life by the seat of its pants, and Kunle – a timid, by-the-book, honor roll student on his way to grad school. Just like their personalities, they both want the opposite out of their senior year of college – the most epic party of your life and keeping your organisms chilled at the right temp so you pass your thesis. When Sean convinces Kunle to go for a collegiate equivalent of a bar crawl, their plans get thwarted.
The movie dives into how the Black experience is not a monolith. The two have very different ideas of how to get out of the bind that they are in. Kunle, in accordance with his personality, wants to simply call the cops to tell them the truth. Sean, however, from experience, knows that this will only put them directly in the spotlight of being responsible for this precious missing white girl, i.e. JAIL. This is most evident when Sean and Kunle run to Sean’s recently released cousin for help. Sean’s cousin informs him that he can’t act like Kunle. He doesn’t come from money nor prestige, the fact that he is asking for a favor from someone with a parole officer should’ve led him to that point. It’s really the tale of good angel vs. bad angel. However, why does the angel have to be labeled as bad, when bad is all he knows? There’s also several instances of how white privilege allows white people to discount black folks’ experiences while thinking they’re also being fair.
Williams successfully took viewers from jovial college life to real world, life altering problems – exactly the risk of what walking around as a Black man is like. The film kept you on your feet, made you mad and made you laugh, all while jolting you back into the reality we’re all too familiar with.
MEET THE ARTIST
Carey Williams is premiering his second feature, Emergency, at this year’s Festival. The film is based on his award-winning short of the same name that won a Special Jury Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win Best Short at SXSW and the Seattle International Film Festival.
CREDITS
- Director: Carey Williams
- Screenwriter: K.D. Dávila
- Produced by: Marty Bowen, Isaac Klausner, John Fischer
- Executive Producer: Kim Coleman
- Executive Producers: Paul O. Davis, K.D. Dávila, Carey Williams, Wyck Godfrey
- Co-Producer: Avital Siegel, H.H. Cooper, Joenique Rose
- Director of Photography: Michael Dallatorre
- Production Designer: Jeremy Woodward
- Editor: Lam T. Nguyen
- Music by: René G. Boscio
- Casting: Kim Coleman, CSA, Anna McCarthy
- Principal Cast: RJ Cyler, Donald Elise Watkins, Sebastian Chacon, Maddie Nichols, Madison Thompson, Sabrina Carpenter
- Run time: 104 min
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