In her first movie since her Oscar-winning turn in Precious (2009), the ferocious Mo’Nique is playing another mother, this one convinced that her son’s gayness is God’s punishment and responsible for the disappearance of her young daughter.
It’s Blackbird, a personal and affecting movie directed by Patrik-Ian Polk (Punks, Noah’s Arc), based on the 1986 novel by California-based Larry Duplechan. Set in a small Mississippi town, the film starts with burgeoning teen Randy Rousseau (played by the winning Julian Walker) having a wet dream about gay sex happening in the middle of a choir performance. In a sweat, he wakes up and prays to Jesus.
Randy is having trouble accepting his sexuality—as does mom—though it seems like everyone else is OK with it, including his friends and his dad (Isaiah Washington). Inching out of the closet, Randy performs in an all-male Romeo and Juliet, then a short film with an openly gay cohort who falls for him and tries to bring him out into openness. How he—and mom—evolve is for you to find out by checking out this film.
Musto: Hi, Mo’Nique. Was there any trepidation in playing another misguided mother after Precious?
Mo'Nique: I don’t know if she’s so much misguided. I think she doesn’t understand how to love her baby through who he is.
Is her feeling a common point of view?
Yes. When people see this film, you hear them saying, “That’s my story. That’s how my mother or father treated me.” It’s not unique to one situation or to a color. I see all kinds: My Asian, Latin, white, black brothers say the same thing, that, “I am Randy Rousseau.”
And it might not just be about sexuality, right?
We’re dealing with the sexuality issue in the movie, but it can be different things. We have people working careers not what they wanted, but what their parents wanted.
Did you like the film because it’s basically sweet and personal, not a sledgehammer Hollywood-style effort?
It’s very real. Not a whole lot of bells and whistles. You’re getting a chance to see behind the door of what happens when someone says, “I don’t know what’s happening with me, but I know the feelings I’m having. So what do I do?” You have a mother who wants to love her baby, but can’t understand it. How does a family cope when one child is abducted and the mother and father can’t be together because she can’t cope and no longer knows how it feels to be a wife? You get to see how it’s accepted or not.
When you grew up, did you have gay friends?
Listen, honey, I was hanging out with the gay babies when I was 16 years old. When I was 16, baby! We were all underdogs. But they made me feel so special. And they used to call me “mother” from time to time. I wasn’t this fat girl to them — they made me feel good, and I made them feel good. This movie is my love letter to the gay community. It is my way of saying, “Thank you for loving me!”
Did anyone make fun of you for hanging with the gays?
If they did, they would have gotten some colorful words. But really, no. I didn’t have that issue. They already knew things might not work out so well for them if they said them.
Listen, honey, I was hanging out with the gay babies when I was 16 years old. When I was 16, baby! We were all underdogs. But they made me feel so special. And they used to call me “mother” from time to time. I wasn’t this fat girl to them — they made me feel good, and I made them feel good. This movie is my love letter to the gay community. It is my way of saying, “Thank you for loving me!”
Too bad that the gays from ATRL are not like that.
I'm gonna start using this 
Mo'Nique