Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day

Kari Ames (Sharon Leal) has it all: a handsome professor husband (Blair Underwood), an adorable six-year-old (Zoe Carter), and a sweet home in New Orleans' Garden District. But when their daughter disappears and Kari's secrets are revealed, it's not the kidnapping or her husband's disgust that sends her back to the bottle. This muddled follow-up to Michael Schultz's harrowing film adaptation of preacher T. D. Jakes's Woman Thou Art Loosed throws in Pam Grier as a Native American cop, an old boyfriend-turned-FBI agent (Nicoye Banks), a sexy T.A. (Nicole Beharie, much better in Shame), and a seer-suckered serial killer (Patrick Weathers) with a novel excuse for killing, shunting Jakes off to brief appearances that bookend the movie. Perhaps director Neema Barnette was hired to insulate the movie from charges of misogyny; in the end, On the 7th Day is not about women being "loosed" from the past, but tying those bonds a whole lot tighter.