THE OBENSON REPORT

Covering Cinema From All Across The African Diaspora
Showing posts with label dvd recommendation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dvd recommendation. Show all posts

DVD SPOTLIGHT - A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy

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Almost forgot to mention...

Dennis's Dortch's feature-film debut (and 2008 Sundance Film Festival selection and Magnolia Pictures acquisition), A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy, a film I've talked about several times on this blog, as well as on my podcast, was released on DVD today!

I'm sure everyone reading this blog is familiar with the title. Indeed, it is a very good day for Dennis Dortch’s directorial debut which charts sexuality through a set of six amusing, interconnected vignettes that unfold in a single day in Los Angeles. Explicitly exploring sex in coupledom, the seductive, visceral film gives us a sneak-peak into a multitude of scenarios, including: a woman in bed with her boyfriend jockeys for position; a teenager explores the limits of her sexuality in questionable situations; a boy and his basketball are held hostage by interracial taboos. Seeking to shatter trite stereotypical representations of "black sexuality," Dortch’s kaleidoscopic sketches are gritty, sultry and surprising with every step and stroke.

Be sure to head on over to Amazon.com to pick up your very own copy for about $23, or check Netflix for a rental.

Extra features on the disc include the usual deleted scenes and director's commentary.

An auspicious start from filmmaker, Dennis Dortch... raw, fresh, and extremely witty. You won't be disappointed!

Here's it's trailer as a reminder:

DVD Spotlight - Nothing But A Man

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In the deep south of the early 1960s, Duff, a somewhat reckless young man (the late Ivan Dixon who would go on to direct The Spook Who Sat By The Door) is drawn to Josie, a grounded preacher's daughter (played by the late Abbey Lincoln, star of stage and screen); they unite; they part, he realizes he prefers stability to freedom, and they reconcile.

Like most "black-themed" films of its era, Nothing But a Man was written, directed and produced by whites: Michael Roemer and Robert Young, two Jewish filmmakers with documentary, American cinema verité backgrounds and Harvard degrees.

Most of the film was shot in New Jersey and not in the south, where the story is set; however, it's worth noting that the production team earnestly researched southern life and Jim Crow custom, reportedly staying with Black families throughout the South for an entire year before production began.

The original soundtrack features Motown stars like Stevie Wonder, Mary Wells, Martha and the Vandellas, The Miracles, and The Marvelettes.

I'll review Nothing But A Man fully during a future podcast. In the meantime, if you haven't seen it, do yourself a big favor and pick up the DVD.

Here are the film's first 6 minutes:

DVD Spotlight - Vidor's 'Hallelujah' Added To Film Registry

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The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress.

The National Film Registry is meant to preserve up to twenty-five "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films" each year, to showcase the full range and diversity of American film heritage, and includes films ranging from Hollywood classics to newsreels, silent films, experimental films, films out of copyright protection, significant amateur footage, documentary films, independent films, home movies and even TV movies. As of 2008, there were 500 films preserved in the National Film Registry.

Add Hallelujah to the list of 25 film titles selected this year by the Library of Congress for inclusion in its National Film Registry - King Vidor's 1929 all-black cast musical (quite a gamble at the time - Vidor is said to have deferred his salary for the film's sake).

Centered around themes of religion, sexuality and family, Hallelujah tells the tale of a cotton sharecropper who loses his year’s earnings, his brother, and his freedom, as well as his relationship with a dance-hall girl (played by the then unknown Nina Mae McKinney).

It was one of the first films by a major studio that featured an all-black cast, and its treatment of the lives of African Americans sharply contrasts the racist revisionist portrayals in films like Birth of a Nation.

Hallelujah was Vidor's first sound film, and he was nominated for the "Best Director" Oscar for his efforts.

I couldn't find any clips of the film on YouTube (I'll grab some from my copy and upload shortly), but the film is available for sale at Amazon.com.

It's recommended viewing for any of you who have yet to see it!

via VARIETY

DVD Spotlight - Black Orpheus

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A 1959 film, loosely based on Orpheus and Eurydice of Greek mythology, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during Carnival season.

In the hands of French filmmaker in Marcel Camus, the film feels like a tourist's rendition of the area and the people who live there; it’s like watching a travelogue or an extended commercial for Rio de Janeiro.

Each setting is colorful, lush, bright, etc, but the characters, as well as the story, are thin in their depictions and development; and the acting certainly isn’t the best, although Camus used an unprofessional cast, which is evident.

Maybe the film was meant as more of a celebration of Rio and Carnival, than it is an adaptation of the Greek Myth.

Of course, there's the wonderful soundtrack put together by the great Antonio Carlos Jobim (Girl From Ipanema), which is credited for single-handedly introducing the Bossa Nova to rest of the world.

It's also worth mentioning that the film did win the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The below clip is the very last scene of the film, and, in my opinion, the best scene in the entire film. It’s the most fluid and seductive, involving 3 young children (2 boys and girl), a guitar, and a wonderful sunrise. If the rest of the film was just as affecting, it would make for a much more powerful and thus memorable experience. See it anyway!

DVD Spotlight - Kirikou And The Sorceress

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I just received my copy of the special edition, 2-disc DVD package of the award winning, 1998 animated feature, Kirikou And The Sorceress, and I'm ecstatic (as Mike Tyson used to say).

If you haven't heard of, nor seen this film, you should do so pronto! And if you're thinking of purchasing it, may I suggest you do as I did, and get the special edition, which is actually not easily found.

Based on West African folklore, this fanciful, animated feature from French artist and director Michel Ocelot is based on a popular West African folklore. It's the story of a remarkable baby boy, the titular Kirikou, who is born with the ability to speak, amazing intelligence, resourcefulness, and incredible physical abilities.

After learning that his parents' village is being threatened by a sorceress with a taste for human flesh, Kirikou takes on the burden of village hero, and goes on a journey of discovery, encountering friends and foes along the way, including a monster who can drain waterfalls and lakes with his enormous thirst, and a wise man living on a magic mountain - all with the end goal of defeating the sorceress, Karaba, and undoing the deadly curses she placed on his village.

The film, by the way, features an extraordinary original musical score by Senegalese music icon Youssou N'Dour.

Easily one of the most enchanting animated features I've seen in awhile.

If you appreciated films like the Lord of The Rings trilogy, you'll like this one as well.

With the 2-disc special edition, you'll enjoy a second animated feature film by Michel Ocelot, titled Princes and Princesses.

I couldn't find a proper trailer for Kirikou, so the below clip will have to do. The film is in French, with several subtitle options, including English, of course.


DVD Spotlight - The Great Silence: Rape In The Congo

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HBO recently aired a documentary titled, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo - a shocking exposé of a decade-old epidemic of kidnapping, rape and torture of women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, often carried out with impunity by gangs of armed militias, leaving survivors traumatized and isolated - shunned by society and their families, and suffering lifelong physical and psychological effects.

The doc was a Sundance 2008 entry and won the "Grand Jury Prize" for best documentary.

If you didn't catch the HBO broadcast, the film is now available on DVD via Women Make Movies, and I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy.

War has raged through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for more than a decade - it has been called the deadliest worldwide conflict since World War II.

The United Nations estimates that 200,000 women and girls have been raped in the DRC during the last 10 years - some victims as young as three years old.

Armed groups use rape as a weapon of war to tear apart families, spread disease and weaken communities, and the women are often victimized doubly - first by their rapists; and secondly by spouses or family members who then find it dishonorable or socially unacceptable to associate with them.

Worldfocus recently reported on all this from eastern Congo:

DVD Spotlight - The Souls Of Black Girls

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Out now on DVD!

The Souls of Black Girls is a provocative news documentary that takes a critical look at media images - how they are introduced, established and controlled. The documentary also examines the relationship between the historical and existing media images of women of color, and raises the question of whether they may be suffering from a "self-image disorder," as a result of trying to attain the standards of beauty that are celebrated in most media.

Here's a review by syndicated African American film critic, Kam Williams:


Why have African-American women become so maligned by popular culture that we have a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Karen Hunter, writing a best seller seriously posing the question, "Are black women necessary?" And how has this shocking state of affairs affected the psyches of the sisters of the Hip-Hop Generation shaped during the dominance of gangsta' rap, an age marked by misogyny and an embracing of a European standard of beauty?

These are the questions posed by The Souls of Black Girls, a provocative documentary which suggests that African-American females are suffering from a form of self-image disorder. Produced and directed by Daphne Valerius, this provocative examination of a timely subject features sage contributions from such icons as actresses Regina King, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Juanita Jennings and Amelia Marshall, PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill, Public Enemy's Chuck D, BET producer Darlise Blount, Essence Magazine fashion editor Pamela Edwards, historian Dr. Lez Edmond and cultural critic Michaela Angela Davis.

These famous faces share screen time with several representatives of the demographic being discussed, articulate teens who weigh-in with their heartfelt feelings on hot-button issues ranging from their dating desirability to skin color preferences to hair straightening to absentee fathers to promiscuity to their weights and shapes.

Ms. King bemoans that we have "a whole generation of lost women who don't that it's okay to be you." Meanwhile, Jada reflects upon having herself gone "through a period of shame." Fortunately, the participants are ultimately optimistic and offer positive solutions, such as Ms. Ifill who proudly asserts "My beauty has value" and finds satisfaction when greeted by young aspiring journalists who see her as a role model.

The film played at several film festivals over the last 12 months, and is now available for sale on DVD. You can read more about it, and buy the the documentary here: SOULS OF BLACK GIRLS.

Here's a video clip of an interview with the director, Daphne Valerius:

DVD Spotlight - Early Works of Cheryl Dunye

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She's easily one of the most provocative, humorous and important filmmakers of our time, often using a sharply witty and reflexive lens, in a mixture of entertaining narrative and documentary techniques, to deconstruct and uproot social and cultural norms.

Her acclaimed first feature, The Watermelon Woman (1996), introduced Cheryl Dunye to wider audiences. But, until now, little attention has been given to those films she created before her breakthrough.

Presented here for the first time on DVD are the films that started it all - the first chapter of the Cheryl Dunye oeuvre.

Six films are included. Greetings From Africa: Cheryl, playing herself, humorously experiences the mysteries of lesbian dating in the 90s; The Potluck And The Passion: Sparks fly as racial, sexual and social politics intermingle at a lesbian potluck; An Untitled Portrait: Dunye's relationship with her brother is examined in this mixture of appropriated film footage, super 8mm home movies & Dunye's special brand of humor. Vanilla Sex: Is it who you do, or what you do?; She Don't Fade: A self-reflexive look at the sexuality of a young black lesbian; and Janine: The story of a black lesbian's relationship with a white, upper middle class high school girl.

The DVD will be released this Tuesday, December 9th. However, you can preorder your copy via Amazon.com, right now!

I have.

White Dog

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white dog


Never heard of it, and thus never seen it.

I happened across it as I perused the GreenCine blog, and after reading up on the film, I'm intent on screening it.

The 1982 film is called White Dog, and is described as a "misunderstood, throat-grabbing exposé on American racism." It was written and directed by Samuel Fuller, a name that I'm not at all familiar with. A glance over his IMDB resume revealed a long list of films (none I immediately recognized), dating back to the late 1930s, through the 1990s, until his death in 1997.

Apparently, the film was little-seen, because it was so controversial that it was suppressed by Paramount studio executives, and was never released theatrically in the U.S.

In it, Julie Sawyer (Kristy McNichol) runs over a wandering white dog with her car one night, takes the dog home and then nurses it back to health. Some days later, the mild-mannered dog saves her life by viciously attacking and killing a rapist who breaks into her home. Julie then discovers that the dog has been trained to attack black skin. She consults an animal trainer who urges her to have the dog exterminated. But a maverick African American dog trainer, Keys, played by the late Paul Winfield, who has tried before to break the training of such dogs but never succeeded, steps in to undo the damage that's been done, essentially reprogramming/re-socializing the animal.

Samuel Fuller is said to have been quite the controversial auteur, but this one frightened studio executives so much that they opted to nix it altogether; although it was hailed by critics when it was released in Europe.

Now, the folks at Criterion Collection have re-packaged and re-released the 1982 film on DVD (out today) for new audiences to experience for themselves.

Dennis Lim of the L.A. Times wrote a sound review of the film a couple of days ago, in which he states,

White Dog" came with an intriguing pedigree. It was based on the 1970 book by Romain Gary, a semi-autobiographical novel in which the French author and his wife, actress Jean Seberg, encounter a stray dog that has apparently been programmed to attack black people on sight. Gary's book evolves into a wide-ranging meditation on race relations in this country, drawing on the queasy mood of late-'60s, newly post-civil-rights America and explicitly discussing Seberg's involvement with the Black Panthers.

[...]

"White Dog" ranks among the toughest and most probing examinations of racism in American cinema. Fuller's brute-force direction gives this outrageous allegory the hyperbolic treatment it demands.

I'm certainly curious, and I always love being introduced to filmmakers I'd previously never heard of, or even dismissed. You can find it on Amazon, if interested.

Here's a trailer I found on YouTube:

The REAL Great Debaters

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The Real Great Debaters


I did see the Denzel Washington-directed and Oprah Winfrey produced film earlier this year, and, mostly enjoyed it. Although, I went in with lowered expectations, and was prepared to dislike it.

I've grown weary of mawkish historical black dramas which seem to dominate black cinema, especially in recent years, so I went into this one not quite kicking and screaming, but certainly not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and I walked out of the theatre mostly pleased.

The story wasn't one that I was wholly familiar with before seeing the movie, which, naturally, prompted me to do some research of my own.

And finding out that the film I saw was essentially a watered down, sensationalized version of quite a compelling real-life drama left me feeling like I had been suckered by the film and the filmmakers.

Yes, I understand that in this industry, filling seats is what matters most to those spending the money to get these films produced and distributed; however, don't do so at your audience's expense, or, maybe even worse, mislead them with half-truths. Give them the entire picture, not just a fragment of it - especially one that's manipulated for effect.

Given that many likely will never take the initiative to do their own research on the characters and predicament that the film is based on, and will rely entirely on the movie they saw to inform themselves on the subject, I think the filmmakers had an obligation to present each character and story in a manner that's faithful to the real-life characters and story - and not a fictive rendition, whether in part, or whole.

Now available on DVD is the documentary The Real Great Debaters of Wiley College, a fascinating documentary which, as African American film critic Kam Williams states, "doesn’t merely correct the record, but amplifies that priceless legacy by sharing a cornucopia of rich details about Tolson and his talented young protégés, Hobart Jarrett, Hamilton Boswell, Rudolph Henry Heights, James Farrmer, Jr., and Henrietta B. Wells."

The DVD features archival footage, newspaper accounts and the recollections of friends, family and luminaries, all combined to paint a rich picture of the complete lives of Tolson and his team and, their amazing accomplishment.

I suggest you pick it up if you haven't already.

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