Product Details

• Actors: Larenz Tate, Joe Morton, Suzzanne Douglas, Glynn Turman, Vanessa Bell Calloway
• Directors: Matty Rich
• Writers: Paris Qualles, Trey Ellis
• Producers: Guy Riedel, Irving Azoff, Jon Jashni, Matthew Baer
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: April 16, 1995
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630321956X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #209,184 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What Hostile Reviews!, January 30, 2003

By 

Diaspora Chic "diaspora_chic" (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inkwell [VHS] (VHS Tape)

How often dow we see movies about a teenage brother's coming of age that aren't violent or gang-related? Matty Rich(whatever he's doing now) did a superb job directing this film about an awkward teen vacationing with his parents in Martha's Vineyard visiting his well-to-do relatives.
He falls for the snot-nose Lauren who uses him to get back at her boyfriend who dropped her. Meanwhile he is also looking out for a married woman whose husband is cheating on her with other women.
It's a movie about growing up and what it means to be a person. Do all black movies have to be based on gang warfare and lewed sexual conduct?

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I liked it, March 11, 2002

By 

MarvelousMarla "MarvyM" (Way down in Dixie) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Inkwell [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was an interesting little flick about a troubled teen who escapes with his feuding parents to Martha's vineyard for a
mini-vacation after he nearly burns down the house. "The Inkwell" is the Black section of Martha's Vineyard. Set in the '70s,
this is a retro film that evokes a real sense of the period.

Granted, this movie does have its weak points, but I thought the overall product was not bad. Larenz Tate has proven himself
to be a chameleon morphing from a psychopath killer in "Menace to Society" to this odd character and then later becomes a
suave wordsmith in 1997's "Love Jones." He does well in this coming-of-age flick that explores a little shown facet of black life -- the upper middle class. Though the relatives who owned the house on the Vineyard seemed a little pretentious at first (Glynn Turman and Vanessa Bell Calloway), we see that they honestly love their family. Even the brother-in-laws with the conflicting political views (Republican Vs Black Panther) manage to make peace with each other in the end.

Drew (Larenz Tate) really was a weird character, but at least the role was a departure from the black male stereotype of the
cool thug. At least Matty Rich was not afraid to take a chance here with a different type of lead character. Jada Pinkett was
very good here as the spoiled rich girl who wraps the poor, socially-inept Drew around her little finger. And although his role was minor, Morris Chestnut was a convincing (and foine!) philanderer.

My one major complaint is with the mother daughter conflict. Although the two make up in the end, you never really knew what
they were beefing about. That could have been fleshed out a little more, but I liked that this movie was about a family trying to reconnect with each other. And I also liked that the characters were not total stereotypes. If only more Black filmmakers would take risks instead of giving us the same tired story again and again.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Movie, August 19, 2003

By 

Patrice A. Williams (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Inkwell (DVD)

This is a good movie. I never even heard of Matty Rich, and was unaware of the movie altogether until stumbled across it this year. I was thoroughly impressed with the performances of Larenz Tate and Jada Pinkett Smith.

As an aspiring writer myself, I look forward to hearing a lot more from Mr. Rich in the nearing future. I thought the film was well developed, with a believable plot, and excellent development of character. I also enjoyed the fact that the character in which Mr. Tate was sheltered about a lot of things that in today's society is considered the norm for some minorities. I appreciated that because in a society of where today's youth are so bombarded with so many different things, and it is progressively getting worse as of this writing, it is good to have African Americans portrayed in roles that are less than the norm.

I applaud Mr.Rich for his creativity and for gleaning on events that somehow magnificently pulled this incredible movie together.