The relentless passage of time means that even relatively recent streaming releases are supressed by the algorithm, buried under the weight of the titles that they want you to watch now, dammit.
Even I had totally forgotten about They Cloned Tyrone until it showed up in a site search here recently. I originally reviewed it for the old Substack, back in July 2023:
John Boyega (the Star Wars sequels, Small Axe and The Woman King) plays Fontaine, a struggling drug dealer in a semi-rural Southern location called The Glen. When he is stiffed on his share by a pimp named Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) he goes to the motel where Charles is lying low, retrieves his money and is then shot several times by a rival in the parking lot.
Imagine everyone’s surprise, then, when he wakes up the next morning in the same bed, and proceeds to do the same things he did the day before. It’s not Groundhog Day – he himself is unaware that he died the previous night until it is pointed out to him.
Fontaine, Slick Charles and one of Charles’ hookers Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) rather reluctantly at first, attempt to get to the bottom of this mystery, which turns out to involve bizarre mind control experimentation and a massive government conspiracy.
It’s played at a fun and furious pace – older viewers might require subtitles – and the direction, editing, art direction and performances all combine to make it a thoroughly entertaining, if ultimately enraging, two hours. To throw back to Slumdog Millionaire, I once said that after seeing that at the Embassy Theatre, every film for the next few weeks felt old fashioned and that’s what I think about this one, too.
The final third isn’t as thrilling as the first two but that’s because the film reveals what it has on its mind. And it’s a lot.
Also in that July 2023 newsletter, the Aussie music documentary John Farnham: Finding the Voice (now available as a digital rental) and another forgotten Netflix documentary, Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine, about the Webb telescope project and its mind-boggling images of the galaxy. I suspect that will play slightly different now, after the swingeing cuts made to Nasa under the current regime.
Where to watch They Cloned Tyrone
Worldwide: Streaming on Netflix
