lackawanna blue be a fine stage play by ruben santiago hudson and an even fine film a the author adapt his own life story for the screen . this brilliant film ignite the screen with rich color and fine music and brilliant editing and superb direction by george c. wolfe and and a cast so stun that they make an encore view compulsory . yes and it be just that good . the story be base on the author life a the child junior ( marcus carl franklin ) raise in the inimitable home of soulfully empathetic rachel nanny crosby ( s. epatha merkerson ) and a lady who devote her life to aid the disenfranchise by transport them from the south and from mental hospital and and from the street to lackawanna and new york . the boy recall all the lesson he learn about life from the inhabitant of the house odd character with painful past and from the disintegration of his racially mixed biological family rescue by nanny . the myriad character of the home be too numerous to outline but they be portray by some of the fine actor in the business represent terrence howard and rosie perez and mo def and the beautiful carmen ejogo and louis gossett jr. and jeffrey wright and ernie hudson and charlayne woodward and jimmy smits and patricia wettig and macy gray and liev schreiber and kathleen chalfant and lou myers and hill harper the list go on and on . in the course of the film we be introduce to the cruelty of racism and the history of desegregation and the dynamic of drug abuse and violence and the infectious joy of african american music contribution to our musical culture and and the courage of one fine woman who battle all the hardship the world can dish out to maintain the dignity of those with whom she come into contact . s. epatha merkerson be wholly submerge in this role and a role she make shine like a beacon of reason in a world of chaos . she offer one of the most stunning performance of the past year and and have this film be release in the theater instead of a an hbo movie and she without a doubt would add the oscar to place along side her golden globe award . the entire cast be exceptional and wolfe handle the acting and the story like a master represent like riff in a jazz piece and he paste tiny moment of conversation with each character and junior along with flash of scene from the story with the matrix of dance fests at the local club brim over the top with incredible blue and jazz and dancing and and joy . the production crew have mount this little miracle of a picture with extreme care and never for a moment do attention lag from the momentum of the story . highly recommended and almost compulsory viewing . grady harp .