Warning! The following contains spoilers for the movie Straw. Stream it with a Netflix subscription and read at your own risk!
Subscribers are raving about Tyler Perry’s new drama Straw, and after seeing it for myself, it’s easy to see what inspired all the praise. Taraji P. Henson stars in a riveting drama that, while brutally sad from the very start, somehow only gets more and more upsetting the deeper it gets. To the point where I was already expecting an unhappy ending, but still couldn’t fully prepare for how the actual final act tore my heart out.
Shout out to Henson for giving such a dynamite performance on the heels of her break from Hollywood, as Straw has given me hope once again that upcoming Netflix movies can be seen as appointment viewing, and potentially even worthy of an awards conversation or two. We shall see how Straw fares, but I’d be shocked if it doesn’t early at least one or two noms when the time comes. So let’s dig in, keeping tissues at the ready.
Straw Is A Sad Movie, But The Twist Ending Goes Beyond
Straw initially tells the story of Janiyah, a single mother trying to make ends meet, and is feeling the walls closing in around her. Her sick daughter, Aria, needs lunch money, her rent is due, and child services takes Aria into foster care after noticing the bruises she had from a fall in the shower. The stress of it all comes to a peak during an attempted robbery in which she accidentally kills one would-be thief, and then intentionally kills her boss, who assumed she orchestrated the theft.
In shock, Janiyah attempts to cash her weekly paycheck with the gun still in hand, and is then accused of robbing the bank. Making things more harrowing, she has her daughter’s science fair project, which resembles a bomb. Pretty soon, the police arrive with the presumed knowledge of what occurred at the store earlier that day, and it seems as though the odds of Janiyah ever seeing her daughter again, at least without substantial prison time, are slim.
It’s sad enough, but it gets even more upsetting after Tyler Perry throws in the big twist in the final act. Through a phone call with Janiyah’s mother, we learn that Aris is dead, and that she died years prior. What the what?
It turns out that Janiyah was hallucinating that her daughter was alive all that time, and everything viewers witnessed involving Aria earlier in the movie never actually happened.
Straw Goes From An Unfortunate Series Of Events To A Sobering Look At Mental Health
I’m hoping that Straw has the same impact on streaming for Tyler Perry movies as Six Triple Eight did, because I want it to lead to more movies that provide a sobering portrait of mental health. As the truth about Janiyah’s story is revealed at the end of the movie, it becomes more tragic not just because her daughter had long passed, but because so many people struggled to help someone struggling with grief.
It’s a powerful message, and the kind of story that makes me hungry for more. As Netflix pursues more offbeat movies like Nonnas that may have no place in theaters, they should definitely keep up this relationship with Tyler Perry and other filmmakers making movies like Straw. These may not be the kind of movies that are going to break box office records, but they’re important to tell all the same, and without tying pithy comedy to the twist in the way that FIght Club and others have.
For now, there’s no shortage of Tyler Perry movies available on Netflix, and while not all of them are going to be as dramatic as Straw, there’s still a solid number of titles to enjoy for people seeking that out. I know that I’m going to be looking for more, and do hope the filmmaker pursues more projects like Straw after seeing the response.
As mentioned, Straw is available to stream on Netflix. I would hope that everyone who reads this has already watched it, because I don’t think this movie would hit the same knowing the twist in advance. For those who made that mistake, check in and let me know because I’m genuinely curious.
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