The entertainment business is hard for any actress to navigate, but it is perhaps more so for actresses of color, all of whom confront not only the pressures of the industry itself but also the historical pressures of racism and economic value as determined soley by skin color. In an honest glimpse of the Hollywood landscape as seen through the eyes of talent such as Jasmine Guy, Malinda Williams and Sheryl Lee Ralph, Angles Can’t Help But Laugh allows Teri J. Vaughn as interviewer to figure out what’s actually happening for actresses of color within the business and more importantly, uncover what can actively be done to prevent the pitfalls in the future. Consequently, the documentary plays not as a 94-minute complaint but rather cuts together as an analysis and a solution.

While production quality of film is quite poor, coming across as an educational video with C-stands in the background included, the interviews are all highly-intelligent and forthright, making for a moving discussion not only about acting but also about how the business effects motherhood, friendship and spirtuality. “I’m not hating the player,” Ralph says. “I’m hating the game,”–the likes of which includes giving into racial stereotyping, building television networks up only to have them pull programming later on and dealing with agents who pit actress against actress.

Recently selected to screen at Cannes, Angles Can’t Help But Laugh offers a truth not only for the actresses working in the industry currently but also for the young girls coming up, the ones who look to television and film for role models and often wonder why it is that they still can’t see them on the big screen.