Not Easily Broken

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Bill Duke directs. Geary McLeod behind the camera. Kurt Farquhar scores. Josh Rifkin cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Portuguese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 17 years ago.
• 2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Portuguese.
• 3Directed by Bill Duke, shot by Geary McLeod. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Kurt Farquhar. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Josh Rifkin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Morris Chestnut and Taraji P. Henson and Maeve Quinlan carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "Life tries to break you. Love holds you together.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0795438 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Only 75 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Geary McLeod

Original score

Kurt Farquhar

Editing

Josh Rifkin

Production design

Cecil Gentry

Costume design

Diane Bunch

Makeup / hair

Barbara Augustus

VFX supervisor

Curt Miller

Sound

R. Russell Smith

Runtime

99 min · 1h 39m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$5,000,000

Box office

$10,726,909

Return

215% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Not Easily Broken (2009) ↗

Also by

Bill Duke

• 
  Light Girls

  2015 · ★ 10.0
• 
  DMX: Angel

  2001 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery

  2000 · ★ 8.6
• 
  Tour of Duty

  1987 · ★ 8.1
• 
  The Killing Floor

  1984 · ★ 8.0
• 
  The Meeting

  1989 · ★ 8.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Not Easily Broken - Trailer

  Trailer

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Screen Gems

  US

Key crew

• NovelT.D. Jakes
• Co-ProducerBrian Bird
• Executive ProducerSteven Brown
• Executive ProducerMorris Chestnut
• ProducerBill Duke
• ProducerT.D. Jakes
• ProducerAaron Norris
• ProducerCurtis Wallace
• EditorJosh Rifkin
• CastingMichelle Adams
• CastingKimberly Hardin
• Production DesignCecil Gentry
• Art DirectionCraig Pavilionis
• Costume DesignDiane Bunch
• Makeup ArtistBarbara Augustus
• Key Hair StylistGermicka Barclay
• Makeup Department HeadRebecca DeHerrera
• Hair Department HeadAngela Gurule
• Special Effects CoordinatorLarry Fioritto
• Unit PublicistDavid Linck
• Property MasterColleen Saro
• Payroll AccountantSophia Tapia
• Production AccountantRhonda Reznick
• First Assistant AccountantAnna Belaro-Rodriguez

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• love

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2009-01-09PG

Also known as

International titles

• Cuori di VetroIT
• Ponto de DecisãoBR
• Not Easily Broken - Gib` niemals auf!DE
• Not Easily Broken - Gib niemals auf!DE