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A Taste of Honey (1961)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 1/25

1/25: Tony Richardson was a major part of the British New Wave, having directed four films: Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, A Taste of Honey, and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.

It's the third that's among the most realistic along with Saturday Night and Sunday Morning in which he served as the producer. The performances by Rita Tushingham, Murray Melvin, and Dora Bryan are outstanding with the first two making their screen debuts, resulting in Best Acting awards at the Cannes Film Festival. They can thank Walter Lassally for the stunning black-and-white cinematography.

Consider the year that the film was made in which was 1961. The idea of a white female being impregnated by a black male was unheard of at the time on top of their interracial kiss. So were the appearances of a blatantly gay male and a single mother. Then, there's a bastard who's about to be born, and it might be black. Hollywood didn't start doing this type of movies until the late 60's; all the big studios did was produce fluff and people got tired of it, hence the decline in ticket sales, because nothing they saw was either real or relatable.

Rejection is the main theme, and it's constantly acted upon by Jo and Geoffrey. She stops caring about it anymore and thus accepts people, regardless of their skin color or homosexuality. Jo's mother is a throwback to how it should be by behaving properly and sticking to the norms. She's constantly reinforced by her boyfriend who promises an upgrade in her living status if she'll pay the price of ditching her daughter.

All in all, A Taste of Honey is one of the most daring movies ever made during the 60's.

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