When someone is murdered on New Year's Eve, the prime suspect is Valerie Maas, a church-going home-maker whose life unravels when she discovers that her husband of many years has been leading a double life. Her strength of character and faith keep her going as the revelation of her husband's betrayal threatens to destroy all that they have known.
Acting
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor anchors every scene with devastating restraint.
Direction
Bill Duke brings theatrical gravitas to pulpy material.
Director
Bill Duke
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of a brief early-2000s wave of Black erotic thrillers (Trois, The Best Man) that traded on respectability politics tension.
Bill Duke—veteran actor turned director—rarely gets credit for shepherding Black ensemble casts through genre material with this much dignity.
US
