The Lady Superhero Mystique Gets a New Take in Chick

In indie series Chick, superheroes really exist — at least, they seem to exist, though no one demonstrates much in the way of actual superpowers. So Lisa (Kai Ṣoremekun, who also writes, directs, and produces) is dealing with the discovery that her boyfriend has been cheating on her by throwing herself into her dream of becoming a superhero, albeit reluctantly.

See, it’s Lisa’s lack of education that’s kept her from achieving real success — there’s a mythical school for those who wish to learn the arts of flying and other daring acts. But first she has to get up the nerve to actually go for it, which might seem easy in the movies, but can be much tougher in real life.

While the opening credits hint at a stronger blaxploitation homage than actually occurs, Chick, which is now on its 14th episode, does still have a defined point of view and an engaging heroine at its center. Ṣoremekun’s fake tears aren’t nearly as convincing as her determination, and overall her performance doesn’t have a ton of range — however, at times she does a nice job of capturing Lisa’s anxiety and insecurities, which are the heart of the show’s drama.

However, Lisa’s wavering drive to pursue her goal of becoming a superhero is well-depicted, but it doesn’t make for the most high-octane of narratives. Moving just slightly faster in the earlier episodes to get her towards her goal would help improve the series’ overall flow. In addition, Chick‘s cinematography looks great but has a flat sound — making it another strong example of how important sound design are in amping up the emotion of certain scenes. It could also be more tightly edited in terms of its pacing, as most episodes seem to experience a certain amount of drag.

Here’s where some perspective comes in handy, though. When you evaluate a show like Chick against, say, an episode of NBC’s Heroes, there simply isn’t much to compare it against — the latter’s sharper technical credits, more experienced cast and more professional writing stand out. Insert your own joke about the quality of Heroes‘ writing over the past few seasons here, if you want, but for the most part characters do refrain from talking to themselves, unlike Lisa.

But when considered as an independent project, one created almost solely by one person with a limited budget, there’s a lot more good than bad. And as the purest expression possible of one woman’s point of view, Chick is something to admire.

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