Netflix's Colin in Black & White tells Colin Kaepernick's story in a provocative but messy way

Variety

The six-episode limited series on Kaepernick's teenage years feels like a wasted potential, says Joshua Alston. "Kaepernick’s saga sounds like an ingredient list for a spicy, topical docuseries to join what feels like a new golden age of sports documentaries," says Alston. "But Kaepernick wanted to tell his story as a scripted drama focused on the formative high school years when his athletic evolution dovetailed with the awakening of his Black identity. The result, Colin in Black & White, is a provocative, ambitious, and frequently messy execution of Kaepernick’s already unexpected pitch. As developed by Kaepernick, co-creator Ava DuVernay, and showrunner Michael Starrbury, Colin is at once a coming-of-age tale, an anti-racism polemic, and a flipbook of Black history memes. That description might ring familiar to fans of Kenya Barris, who spun Black-ish off into its own constellation of sitcoms and later landed his own lucrative Netflix deal. Colin parallels Black-ish, often to the point of deliberate homage, up to and including elements of the score. Like Barris’ work, Colin explores race in America by braiding the political and the personal, using funny, human stories to better illustrate the causes and effects of our most durable quagmire. And Kaepernick has a unique perspective to offer to that conversation as a biracial kid born in Milwaukee, then raised by white adoptive parents in small-town California. Kaepernick steps into the role of omniscient narrator in voiceovers that start out shouty and stilted but smooths out by the end of the limited series’ six half-hour installments...The framing device essentially makes Kaepernick the curator and tour guide of a museum about his life. He appears in each episode, dressed to the nines, to reflect on his life and Black oppression in a cavernous space resembling a Brutalist panopticon. And while it’s no fun to criticize such an earnest and deeply personal project, Kaepernick’s segments threaten to derail <i>Colin before it reaches speed. For one thing, the brief historical lessons suggest that its creators don’t know who the show’s audience is. Someone interested enough in Colin Kaepernick circa 2021 to watch a series about him almost certainly knows what a micro-aggression is and doesn’t need a primer on structural racism."

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• Colin Kaepernick is one of the few people who could pull off a show like this: "It's an unusual combination of fiction and nonfiction, personal memoir and cultural documentary," says Kelly Lawler. "Few public figures could successfully pull off this kind of project, especially without seeming to talk down to the audience. He speaks directly to viewers on many occasions, but the writers make enough effort to weave the larger themes into the football player's personal story to make it more of an intimate conversation than a college lecture. It's a show that's educational, thought-provoking and entertaining, not easy to accomplish all at once. It helps that the real story of Kaepernick's teen years is unique and compelling. Jaden Michael, a sweet, sincere actor who evokes his famous alter ego but also adds his own characterization, portrays him as a teen. Colin opens boldly and brutally, as young Black athletes are literally sized up  – weighed and measured – by prospective football coaches, in a parallel to a slave block auction. It's a clear bellwether for the tone of the series: unflinching, emotional and in your face. It begins with young Colin as a high school freshman in the early 2000s, a hugely talented athlete with career prospects in both baseball and football who's desperate to get his hair done in cornrows like his hero, NBA star Allen Iverson. The series follows Colin through his senior year as he confronts racism as the biracial adopted son of white parents in a conservative Southern California town and navigates his status as an athlete."
• The extremely divisive nature of Colin Kaepernick’s story all but demands something less straightforward and feel-good: "And that is the goal that Colin in Black & White — created by Kaepernick and Ava DuVernay, and run by Michael Starrbury — tries to meet, mostly succeeding along the way," says Alan Sepinwall. He adds: "There are moments — particularly in the DuVernay-directed premiere or the third episode, in which Colin endures a series of racist microaggressions while competing in a summer baseball tournament — where the dramatization of young Colin’s life is perfectly complemented by Kaepernick’s monologues and other stylistic conceits. And while Kaepernick is not a natural performer, he’s a striking on-camera presence. The device of showing him reacting to his younger self is often incredibly powerful. But there are also times when the main story and the Kaepernick interjections don’t mix well, each feeling effective on their own but like they belong on different shows. If the real Kaepernick is occasionally a bit stiff, the actor playing him gives a wonderful, vibrant performance. Constantly seeing the real, older version only underlines how well Jaden Michael has captured the spirit of the man he’s playing. Parker and Offerman are also excellent, albeit in more thankless roles that repeat the same couple of notes. Over and over, we see that Teresa and Rick are well-meaning but blind to the specific challenges their son faces, and that they are often among the biggest contributors to Colin’s painful, at times crippling, sense of otherness."
• Kaepernick's presence in front of the camera makes Colin in Black & White feel stilted: "A more straightforward approach likely would have played better, and that structural fumble somewhat dilutes the dramatic sequences, which feature Kaepernick during his formative high-school years (well played by Jaden Michael)," says Brian Lowry. "Mary-Louise Parker and Nick Offerman portray his adoptive parents, who at one point call him 'a thug' because they disapprove of his hair, and often seem oblivious to indignities he faced from figures like police, hotel personnel and umpires, having excelled in baseball before settling on football as his chosen career path."
• Colin in Black & White is a sometimes provocative, sometimes frustrating mixture of elements: "A coming-of-age story — basically an early-’00s version of The Wonder Years — is buoyed by a terrific performance from Jaden Michael as 'Young Colin,'" says Daniel Fienberg. "The story is used as a framing device for documentary-style vignettes that decode racialized language, explain the Doll Test (the classic psychological experiment in which Black children were given the choice between Black and white dolls; most chose the latter, proving the harmful effects of racism on kids), or offer biographical sketches of figures like DJ Kool Herc and Allen Iverson. Structured around all this are sequences in which present-day Kaepernick walks through various backdrops, sometimes viewing his youth like dioramas in a museum, a setup that presumably mirrors the way he’s spent his time since becoming famous: being critiqued, examined, poked and prodded, put on display." He adds: "It isn’t as easy to feel empathy for Young Colin pouting when he’s told he could sign a million-dollar baseball contract out of high school, but one of the most frequent charges leveled against Kaepernick in recent years is that if he actually loved football, he would just shut up, stand for the national anthem and play football. This questioning of his passion is the argument that people think they can make against Kaepernick without sounding racist. But Colin in Black & White delves into that love for football and what it has cost him, and it brings out exactly those racially inflected undertones that haters would pretend don’t exist."
• Colin in Black & White tackles the depressing truth of discrimination inside and outside the world of sports: "And it does so with a clever balance of YA humor, strategically deployed data — in a league that’s more than 70% Black, less than a third of the quarterbacks are — and an emotional authenticity that sheds light on who Kaepernick is today, and why he was willing to risk his career in the name of justice," says Lorraine Ali. "The dialogue and jokes between family members can be predictable in spots, but that homey dynamic grounds Colin in Black & White in a familiar setting — the family sitcom — while interspersing the plot with quick documentary lessons on the late-’90s crucifixion of Allen Iverson for being 'too thug,' the influence of hip-hop fashion in sports and the economics of racism. (For example, we learn that, in 2015, 27.4% of Black applicants were denied mortgages, more than twice the number of whites who were turned away.) The intrusion of the real world is a powerful way of showing Kaepernick’s own growing awareness of what awaited him in adulthood, outside his family’s suburban door."
• Colin in Black and White's storytelling is as subtle as a sledgehammer: "The show tends to make its points over and over, with Kaepernick's voiceovers explaining things that also play out in scripted scenes," says Eric Deggans. "It can make the show feels inconsistent; at times, the narration expands your understanding with exciting looks at Black history. In other moments, it just emphasizes something you already know. Ditto with Kaepernick's performances, which are sometimes passionate and emotional, other times stilted and a little heavy handed. The series itself often feels like a not-so-passive aggressive swipe at the authority figures – all seemingly white – who doubted his goals and made it tougher for him to be himself, including his parents." Deggans adds: "What I found most compelling about Colin in Black and White is something I wish the show had spent more time exploring: Kaepernick's decision to choose being Black. After all, as the TV series depicts, he's in a situation where many people around him — coaches, friends and family — don't understand his thirst for Black culture. Other than friends at school, he doesn't seem to have any other Black people in his life. He could have easily chosen to reflect white culture more in his life choices. Colin in Black &White seems to present this choice as a given – a natural thing for Kaepernick to look up to Black sports stars, seek to date Black women and embrace hip hop culture. But for him, and many biracial kids like him — including the former President of the United States – self-identifying as a Black man can be an affirmative choice. And in today's increasingly multiracial society, it's a choice more young people are negotiating everyday."
• Colin in Black & White's tone isn’t tendentious so much as encouraging, even sweet, and hopeful in a hard-earned way: "It’s an argument, but not necessarily the kind you’d expect," says James Poniewozik. "It seems less to be aimed at persuading or refuting Kaepernick’s older critics than to be speaking to the next generation of kids like him. (Indeed, the generally wholesome tone is closer to that of a young-adults’ show than that of a gritty streaming series.) That this message comes from someone whose football career seemingly ended after he put his own power to use is left unspoken in this open-eyed but optimistic series. Colin in Black & White may not be the story that you were expecting about Kaepernick’s protest. But it shows how much he loved the sport he risked being driven out of when he took a knee."
• Unfortunately, Colin in Black & White struggles to vividly convey the weight of Kaepernick’s coming-of-age years: "The show crams an essential backstory with pivotal social messages only to overcomplicate it with more narrative threads than it can handle," says Saloni Gajjar. "Co-created by Kaepernick and the formidable Ava DuVernay, the cast features solid names like Nick Offerman and Mary Louise Parker, as well as breakout young actor Jaden Michael, who plays young Colin. Their collective talent falls short here. For starters, the cast chemistry in Colin is unsteady, especially between the actors playing the central family. Colin is biracial with adoptive white parents, Rick (Offerman) and Theresa (Parker), growing up in a conservative California town. In trying to portray the dissonance in how the world treats them, the show dramatizes circumstances from Kaepernick’s day-to-day life. The mostly stiff performances don’t match the evocative events"
• Colin in Black & White offers a unique take on the coming-of-age story: "In what could easily be described as a combination of Malcolm in the Middle and Everybody Hates Chris, the creation of Colin in Black & White offers more than your average coming-of-age series," says Wilson Morales "Those earlier shows — as well as the old and new incarnation of The Wonder Years — showcased the experience of growing up white and Black in America, respectively. But this new show offers the unique perspective of a biracial child with white parents, one who matures into one of the most prominent advocates for Black lives." Morales adds: "What separates Colin in Black & White from other coming-of-age dramedies is the cultural figures who are referenced as a kind of history lesson and marker of the early 2000s — from Allen Iverson’s NBA drama with his cornrows to the evolution of hip-hop from Clive Campbell (aka DJ Kool Herc) to the famed artist Romare Bearden, who started out as an athlete but refused to be labeled as a white man. Some may consider these diversions as distractions from Colin’s story, but they offer a valuable context for younger viewers especially."
• Colin in Black & White makes an artsy muddle out of an inspiring sports icon's story: "Colin in Black & White is ambitious in the similar way to young Colin Kaepernick, in that it is attempting to pull off several storytelling approaches in six episodes," says Melanie McFarland. "It would have been far more effective if it had focused on one of those avenues and laid it out for us, brick by brick. Instead we're presented a pile of narrative that doesn't neatly cohere." McFarland adds: "Its tone lurches between passion, provocation and sweetness frequently enough to make a person wonder: Does it mean to relate to viewers who understand Kaepernick's point of view or educate those who don't? Either way, the throw misses the receiver. That's bound to be disappointing to anyone anticipating that this project would live up to the greatness of the man who inspired and co-created it."
• Colin in Black & White serves as an excellent primer on the personal as political: "The episodes that demonstrate the greatest aptitude for putting Kaepernick’s story in the wider historical context are the most compelling of the series, and the inverse is also true—those episodes that don’t do quite as effective a job at connecting Colin’s tale to wider historical, sociopolitical contexts are the weaker links," says Clara Wardlow. "The storyline zeroing in on one of the more unique elements of Kaepernick’s athletic career—while he excelled as a high school quarterback, he was an absolute star in baseball and highly sought out by college coaches, but retained a single-minded focus on pursuing football—is one of the less compelling stretches of the series for this very reason. Elsewhere, the intricate layers of context given are the most distinctive and compelling parts of the show, but this crucial chapter in Colin’s life feels weirdly unexplored. While his ultimate disinterest in pursuing baseball in spite of his incredible talents is discussed at some length, the other side of the coin—his all-consuming love of football—is strangely untapped. Particularly towards the latter half of the series, when Colin’s singular focus on football comes to the fore, this quirk becomes especially noticeable. The show focuses on Colin’s fortitude and determination to prove his naysayers wrong, which speaks to how he maintained focus on his own aspirations in spite of significant external pressure, but does not really speak to what drives his actual aspirations."
• Colin in Black & White is hampered by Kaepernick not being a natural actor: "The blending of historical past with Kaepernick’s personal past can leave the entire six episode affair feeling long, which is strange since the episodes average about 30 minutes," says Kristen Lopez. "There’s a start-stop nature to the episodes where a particularly fascinating element of the past, like the Bearden story, feels like a small footnote. Or, if Kaepernick’s story is intriguing it can be frustrating to pull away from it. A sense of cohesion between the two elements is never fully achieved and just makes you wish the series had been divided in two. It doesn’t help that Kaepernick, not being a professional actor, often has a hard time working with the material he’s given to read. In the historical segments he works because the stories are so straightforward. But during the reenactments he’s left to act as a Wonder Years-type narrator, remembering elements of his life, like the first time he got cornrows. His narration tends to sound the same, not having the sense of humor or pathos that would have come from a professional performer."
• As difficult as parts of this series are to watch, Jaden Michael's captivating performance as Colin is a consistent joy: "The 18-year-old actor embodies both the cocky swagger of an athletic prodigy and the profound sensitivity of a boy on the cusp of young adulthood," says Kristen Baldwin. "Like the teenage athlete he portrays, this kid is destined to be a star."
• For newcomer Jaden Michael, it was an emotional process to take on the life of such a famous figure: “I was afraid of how people around me would see me, I was afraid of the repercussions from my family even — I know of people in my family who probably don’t agree with Colin,” he says. “That aspect was scary, but it was also scary because the show isn’t like any normal biopic where you have a little bit of liberty in creating the character. Colin and I share the screen so you have to get it perfectly or else it’s highlighted every mistake I make.”
• Michael first met Kaepernick during the audition process: "I was told I was going to have a Zoom meeting with him," he says. "It was supposed to be 30 minutes, and it ended up being an hour and a half because we just started talking about music, our childhoods, what it means to be Black in America. I learned so much about him and how he came to this point where he is the legend he is today. I was so nervous. I really never fan out over people, but Colin is so much more than an athlete to me. It was nerve-racking but truly amazing and humbling." How did Michael go about playing Colin over several years? "I did several things in order to make Young Colin appear as though he was truly growing up through the years," he says. "I played around with my weight by fasting, slimming myself down at first to appear smaller and younger. As we continued to work on the episodes, I started eating more and working out in order to become bigger, more athletic and appear older. I also worked with several trainers to become a believable professional athlete, not just in one competitive sport but three. Hair is a big theme in the show, and in Colin’s life, so I rock a few different styles throughout the series as well."
• Ava DuVernay initially thought the show would tackle the National Anthem controversy: When Kaepernick agreed to do the show, "my mind immediately jumped to: ‘Whoa! OK, great! We’re going to do the kneel. We’re going to do Trump. We’re going to do the whole thing!’" says DuVernay. But Kaepernick had other ideas. “He felt he could tell more of a story if he focused on a time in his life that wasn’t politicised, which I thought was interesting," she says.
• Colin Kaepernick acknowledges he kept a tight grip on his story: “As a co-creator and executive producer, I was involved in all aspects of the show — from its creation, to its script, to the casting decisions, format and final cuts,” he says. “The format and structure of the show became critically important because one of my goals was to tell a great story without ambiguity as to the messaging behind it.” DuVernay describes Kaepernick’s involvement as “creating sculpture together with every fingerprint.” “He was a filmmaking novice, but he is a quarterback. I was shocked at the way that his mind worked,” says DuVernay.