I try to keep this a space of positivity, so I haven’t brought up Nina starring Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone. But the trailer and poster came out and I can’t hold my tongue anymore.

Nina should be a precautionary tale about producing biopics. I’m not one of those people who thinks that an actor has to have a strong resemblance to their subject, but if you’re going to go that route, at least make it tasteful.

The poster is atrocious. Zoe Saldana looks like she’s in blackface. It’s painfully obvious that’s she in a lot of makeup. They tried to hard to make her look like Nina, and it just ended in disaster. If the producers wanted someone who looked like Nina, they should’ve gotten someone else.

The trailer is no better. Zoe looks bad in the trailer. The trailer was badly edited. At least I hope it was badly edited. I hope it’s not indicative of the film. It’s hard to discern what happens in the film except for a lot of drinking, smoking, and psychotic episodes.

I don’t know. It’s hard to have high hopes for this film, but it may surprise us. Maybe Zoe gives a masterful performance. What do you think of the poster and trailer?

Nina will be released in theaters April 22. Tickets are available here.

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