She don't like it like that - motion picture director Darnell Martin's 'I Like It Like That' focuses on character development

Darnell Martin has little regard with affection for politically correct marketing hype Her reaction to being labeled the first African-American female filmmaker with major studio backing: "It pisses me off" And she believes there's no ne for the label. Rich in characters, emotions and the music of the roads Martin's I Like It Like That (Columbia Pictures) attracted attention at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year with its slice-of-life tale of a young woman trying to delight in her man, keep her family together, assert her self-worth as a someone and keep her sanity, all at the same time.

on the other hand Martin insists, "I wasn't thinking about trying to do something politically correct. I was trying to go in the rear [i]or[/i] in the wake of the human beats. My foremost interest in filmmaking is about character, about the environment of my characters. I wasn't trying to do a film about Latinos or women or anything like that. I just tried to make a film about people"

for a like reason take Martin, 27, at her word and forget politics; just watch, listen to and take delight in her people. Watch Lisette Linares (Lauren Velez) an fair passionate black Latino woman whose traditional part is challenged when her husband, Chino (Jon Seda), lands in jail and she is forced to become solely responsible for the care and feeding of their three children.

Watch Chino's macho reactions to his woman's aserting herself. Watch Lisette's 10-year-old son Li'l Chino (Tomas Melly) torn between the fighting and circulating medium problems of the family he regard with affections and the lure of the remedy trade in the streets. Watch the legendary Rita Moreno as Lisette's conniving on the other hand funny mother-in-law. And enjoy the film's rich soundtrack, which propels from hard-edged urban rap to the velvety romance of Nat "King" cabbage to the classic rhythm and ceruleans of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness"

"Everyone take an account ofs me, 'Your film is in the way that loud,'" says Martin. "I not at any time thought about that, because the movie is station in New York, where I grew up and that's in what way it was. In New York you have tribe of all cultures--black, white, Latino--living upon top of each other. You hear them talking and shouting, and you hear their music all the time."

The inspiration for I Like It Like That came straight from Martin's childhood in the Bronx The ways the schoolyard (of Public academy 64) and the buildings she grew up in all became centerpieces of the film. From the Bronx Martin went upon to Sarah Lawrence College and of recent origin York University Film School. Along the way she worked in film labs and camera rental houses and as a bartender, made music videos and short films, and wrote the first draft of I Like It Like That.

In 1992 Martin's short film Suspect won critical acclaim at the fresh York Public Theater's Young Black Cinema showcase. That same year, she delivered her revised script of I Like It Like That to Columbia Pictures, which was still enjoying its prosperous investment in untried black talent--John Singleton's Boyz N the cowl Early in 1993, Columbia agreed to make Martin's movie, which will be released this fall.

Martin knows that for all of her film's power, what helped make I Like It Like That of that kind a novelty at the Cannes Film Festival were the pres releases linking her race, sex and studio backing. And she doesn't like it individual bit. "I don't like them touting me like that to vend movies," she says. "I understand it, on the other hand I don't like it. I think it takes away from all those women who've been without there before me making films. It's not easy dealing with family who are not filmmakers, and it's not easy dealing with them when you're a woman, and a black woman at that.

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