#Sundance Review: Selah & The Spades
Dark, manipulative, sassy, a leader, brilliant, and bold. There are many ways to describe Selah Summers (Lovie Simone, Greenleaf), the never-to-be-crossed Senior at Haldwell boarding school in the woodlands of Northeast USA. Her story is one of despair, ruthlessness, and navigating her way to the top, by any means necessary.
Screened at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Selah & The Spades centers on Selah, head of one of the five factions at Haldwell, known as, The Spades. The Spades are the most revered, fun-loving and fun-supplying faction at this prestigious boarding school. As the head of this underground drug operation, Selah supplies every student with a way to escape the hardships, inner turmoil and the teenage drama that comes with living and studying with your peers. She and her right-hand man Maxxie (Jharrel Jerome, Moonlight), strategically run their business away from the watchful eye of the headmaster, portrayed by Jesse Williams (Grey’s Anatomy). When a new student, Paloma (Celeste O’Connor, Wetlands), arrives at Haldwell, Selah immediately befriends her in an attempt to gain her trust and, in turn, control her. After some vetting, when the time is right, Selah ushers Paloma into her and Maxxie’s circle of trust and gives her a hand in navigating the drug business.
Selah spends most of her time manipulating others so much that she can’t fully trust anyone. She is constantly worried about what people think, what they are doing, growing more and more paranoid as time progresses. A lot of her ways likely stem from the emotional coldness & sometimes verbal abuse and manipulation she experiences from her mother (Gina Torres, Suits) firsthand. Her mother is never satisfied with anything Selah does. She rules with an iron fist, even from afar, controlling every detail of her life under the guise that it is for Selah’s own good and she needs saving from herself. While there may be some truth to this, it is the actions of her mother, that push Selah into controlling everyone and everything around her. Never truly trusting a soul or really being friends in the mutually beneficial and loving sense, Selah plays chess with people and always has to end up on top.
When the other faction heads, specifically Bobby (Ana Mulvoy Ten, American Crime) call her out and begin to orchestrate her downfall using Maxxie and his distracted new romance, she even turns on the one person who is arguably most loyal to her, Paloma. After Maxxie screws up an order and neglects his responsibilities, Selah sets him up to get eaten alive on a pickup. At the same time, she forces Paloma to step-up and handle a situation, causing her to cross the line in ways she never intended. Yet, this act of loyalty isn’t enough for Selah, who is still paranoid that Paloma is getting too close to Bobby. Selah drugs Paloma and when Paloma spirals a bit too much, Selah goes to Maxxie to help clean up her mess. More concerned with getting caught, than feeling remorseful, it isn’t until Paloma punches Selah and almost falls to her death, that something changes in Selah. On the brink of suicide, until Maxxie snaps her out of her haze, we see a much more aware, much more vulnerable Selah than before.
While earnest in its attempt, Selah & The Spades starts off strong but lacks the type of ending I had hoped for. The world of boarding schools is something I walked into the theater with little to no knowledge about, so it was intriguing to watch the secrets of such a mysterious environment unfold – especially in an adaptation where black students were at the center and the majority. However, while we see a glimpse of change in Selah, we aren’t given an idea of how these changes have truly impacted her and her choices going forward. While we see the despair in her eyes, on the brink of taking her own life, we don’t know what happens next. Selah is a carefully nuanced character, a different type of young Black girl we don’t often get to see. Being challenged by everyone around her, she becomes hellbent on edging everyone out and never letting anyone surpass her in anything. What becomes of Selah after she leaves? Does she continue to drown in her mother’s expectations? The actors have a great dynamic, and the scenes where Selah interacts with and has strong camaraderie with Maxxie and Paloma, really make the film shine. While given a glimpse into the boarding school experience, the film abruptly ends, leaving us wanting to know more about what happens to our titular character and her beloved Spades.
