Brother to Brother

This looks pretty stylish. It’s in 1.66:1, no shakycam and the edits last longer than half a second.

But… er… the performances are kinda… er… earnest…

This is really well made. It’s got a nice flow, and it’s got great music going on the bits that need music, and it’s silent otherwise.

So is this a magic realism thing? After half an hour, it’s finally clear what the movie’s gonna be about — it’s this guy who was a poet during the Harlem Renaissance (i.e., the 1920s) who’s meeting up with this young gay guy?

(They didn’t have colours back in the olden days.)

I love all these shots from around Manhattan. But it’s such a choppy movie. There’s scenes here that are like “ooo” and then there’s scenes that are “zzz”, and it’s just bewildering.

The soundtrack is still fantastic.

But the magazine they’re publishing — Fire!! — sounds really cool. And there was a reprint in 1985? *shopping*

This may not be a “good movie”, but it’s interesting, and I’m glad I watched it.

Brother to Brother. Rodney Evans. 2004. ⚃

Blackbird

OK, hate this already. Because they’re singing with autotune! I know, I’m oldes.

OK, now it’s good.

But it looks like this is going to be about my least favourite subject ever? I.e., religious damage.

This is fun!

I guess:

As with so much of Polk’s work, Blackbird relishes in frank, gay sexuality and uses a mix of humor and drama to keep the plot moving. It also suffers from the same problems as much of his work: a story that gets a bit too didactic in places, sexual fantasies that at times seem at odds with the rest of the plot, and budget limitations that make the seams show.

And I have to say that some of the performances are pretty… bad…

It is a somewhat odd movie, I have to say. Each individual scene work, but the mix is strange. But it’s fun.

What’s your take on Cassavetes?

It’s kinda not very exciting now.

At least they dialled back the autotune.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqMykoqnoMo]

This is really cute. And slightly meta, since it’s at a film festival showing a studentey movie.

And now it’s downright tedious.

The first half of this movie is kinda ⚃-ish, but the last act is just unbelievably boring. So:

Blackbird. Patrik-Ian Polk. 2014. ⚁

The Watermelon Woman

I’m watching this on Youtube, and… it looks like it’s been uploaded from a DVD that hasn’t been deinterlaced?

I tried a couple other sources, but they absolutely won’t show it to me, since I’m European trash.

So it’s interlaced hell for me.

I’m enjoying this.

This is quite amusing.

It’s super low budget, but stylish.

I’m really enjoying this. The mix of “documentary” and “acting” is really fun.

Boo:

That Dunye has only made one feature film since The Watermelon Woman is our loss.

imdb totally disagrees with that. There’s like a whole bunch of movies. Or… they aren’t “feature movies”…

I love these sets.

OH MY GOD! And now they’re doing “Skin” by Leslie Winer on the soundtrack!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEYRS03q4ws]

This is the best movie ever.

So I’m assuming that all these bits aren’t real?

I mean, is Camille Paglia ever real?

This is so much fun! I love this movie.

Noo! They cut this bit short. I mean, I love concerts and stuff, so I would like half an hour of this because it sounded cool, but they cut it off after ten seconds.

The cinematography isn’t very intrusive, but all the scenes look really cool. I mean, look at that greenery in this scene — it’s better than natural.

This is so funny!

I love this so much. It’s so 90s meta. There’s some scenes that are kinda “eh?” but in context they’re “oooh”.

It’s just a super smart and interesting movie.

OK, I’m drunk and stuff, but this is just such a perfect smart meta movie, and I love this sort of stuff. So:

The Watermelon Woman. Cheryl Dunye. 1996. ⚅