Is there anything scarier than reality?

Jun 17, 2020

"Dear white people,
the minimum requirement
of black friends needed
to not seem racist
has just been raised, to two."

Know that chart from detailing the date shifts of major movies? Yeah, you can go ahead and print it out, take a gander, and then burn it (cept don’t, cuz that’s wasting paper and producing more CO2. And we’re in enough shit as it is without contributing to global warming). But that's basically what happened to it since I last wrote you. Warner Bros. went and moved their whole damn schedule, including Christopher Nolan's Tenet, which as I've mentioned, was to be the first "big deal" movie back when theaters reopened. But newp! Now, for the moment at least, that honor(?) goes to Disney's live action remake of Mulan (July 24th).

Moving on to things we can control, were you able to catch any of last week's selections? I watched Hale County This Morning This Evening last, erm night. It's a special movie. I can't say everyone will enjoy it, but I thought it was really pretty great. It gives you little in traditional narrative structure, but that's kind of the point. It's almost less about what the movie brings to you, and what you bring to the movie. Highly recommend it.

Btw, the movies I've been highlighting these past few weeks are obviously a very limited selection of work done by black writers, directors, actors & more. And there are numerous lists going around, but if you're looking to expand your purview, Netflix curated a selection of their stuff they're dubbing the Black Lives Matter collection. The Flix has been outspoken since the beginning of the current moment (movement?) of racial discussion, committing money and voice, but importantly, they've also been producing a lot of great content from black creators for quite a while now. I mentioned The 13th from Ava DuVernay a couple weeks ago, but I also really enjoy(ed) Dear White People from creator Justin Simeon. Granted it's a TV show (but it was a movie first! See the intro quote), and I'm biased because I worked with Simeon at Paramount, but I think it's a really smart, fun and funny, yet still poignant take on discussions around race (plus plenty more). Check it out, and plenty other good stuff, here.

As for this week's selections, I kept on with highlighting movies with black creative talent (not exclusively focusing on directors this week), but also added a horror/gothic twinge.

Let me know if you watched any of em and what you think!

Cutoff? Go here, click "most recent edition."

EVE'S BAYOU
(1997)

*big breath* A gothic period drama focusing on a family with secrets better left buried where Samuel L. Jackson plays a philandering father whose daughter catches him in "the act" and becomes so disturbed she visits a voodoo priestess which may lead to his untimely demise? Count me in. The director, Kasi Lemmons (fun fact: she acted in Candyman -see below), went on to direct last year's Harriet Tubman biopic, Harriet.

CANDYMAN
(1992)

Yes, the lead is a white woman, and yup the director is a white dude, but the villain, ah yes, the all important villain. The film's arm hooked boogieman, Candyman, is played by Tony Todd (one of the best voices ever?) and he's the first big instance of a black horror bad guy a la Freddy Krueger or Jason. Apparently before the film's release the NAACP was initially worried the movie would purvey tropes of black men to be feared, but after reading the script the film's director said they responded with something along the lines of "'Why shouldn't a black actor be a ghost? Why shouldn't a black actor play Freddy Krueger or Hannibal Lecter? If you're saying that they can't be, it's really perverse. This is a horror movie.'"

Now, it's been a while since I've seen it (big fan in middle school), so can't speak for every aspect of the movie, but it's worth noting that beyond the multiple sequels it spawned, there's a new Candyman being released this year, with Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) producing.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
(1968)

This might seem like an odd choice, but if you've seen the movie and/or know it's history, it'll make more sense. Yes it's a zombie movie, maybe the zombie movie, but it's more than that. Its cultural impact is way bigger than its indie budget belies. In part because it was on of the first instances of a film lead being black with the actor's race having no factor in the casting decision. Director George A. Romero is quoted as saying that the film's hero, Duane Jones, was picked simply because "he was the best actor we met to play Ben."

Now the fact he was cast regardless of his race, didn't mean race wouldn't influence how others saw the film, which is another factor in it's cultural resonance. And Jones being black (and his thoughts on that) apparently influenced how the film ends in a fundamentally interesting way. But before we get into that, maybe you should watch it first. :)

ATLANTICS
(2019)

This definitely doesn't look like a "traditional" horror movie. But horror movies are at their best when they're not traditional to anything (see above), except in elucidating the terrors of the world around us, which apparently Atlantics does quite well at. The story is centered on a young woman who's betrothed, but falls in love with a struggling worker who disappears after departing to Spain and then, well, I don't know, cuz I haven't seen it, but I wanna! But from what I've read it's weird, and it's good.

It's also worth noting, this is not an American movie (and thus, not in English). It was directed a French-Senagelese woman, Mati Diop, who last year became the first black female director to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival - it took second place or the "Grand Prix" award (what won? Parasite).

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