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Buying Time

Name: Buying Time
Director: Mitchell Gabourie
Released: 1989
Duration: 103 min

Representation Score

3.7/10

Limited

1989

Director

Mitchell Gabourie

Runtime

103 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Buying Time functions as a conventional late-80s crime thriller. It centers Black protagonists within a high-stakes urban underworld, providing a degree of racial ability to act through Jabber and Reno. However, the film lacks multi-layered complexity. The narrative is largely male-dominated and lacks representation for LGBTQ+ individuals or characters with disabilities. While it touches on systemic corruption, it stays within established genre clichés rather than offering a broader social critique.

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Category Breakdown

Does Buying Time have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film does not include explicit LGBTQ+ characters or non-cisgender identities. The story revolves around a traditional crime plot centered on conventional social structures.

How does Buying Time portray gender?

Fair

The story is heavily male-centric, focusing on the roles of protagonists Jabber and Reno. There is no evidence of women in positions of authority or challenges to gender hierarchies.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Buying Time?

Fair

The narrative features Black protagonists navigating urban criminal underworlds and police dynamics. However, the racial identity of the antagonist remains unclear, limiting the depth of representation.

How does Buying Time represent religion and culture?

Fair

The plot critiques systemic corruption and the transactional nature of justice through police coercion. It operates within a standard crime framework rather than a deep cultural or religious critique.

Does Buying Time include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no mention of characters possessing visible or invisible disabilities within the narrative.

Present on Screen

Features Black protagonists navigating complex systemic and criminal structures.
Explores themes of institutional corruption and the transactional nature of justice.

Limited or Absent

Lacks gender diversity, with no women shown in positions of authority.
Provides no representation for LGBTQ+ identities or characters with disabilities.
Fails to move beyond standard crime-thriller clichés to offer deeper social critique.

Official Synopsis

Petty thieves Jabber and Reno are blackmailed by the police to uncover the identity of a mobster who is killing the city's drug dealers. While reluctant, they're convinced by the offer to expunge their own crimes. They go undercover and track a suspect named Curtis King. Soon they find evidence of Curtis's crimes, but amplify the danger in which they find themselves.

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