(Tracey Heggins and Wyatt Cenac in Medicine for Melancholy.)
Just as we were wondering if the grand old cinematic gates had closed on good black romance (it's been a whopping 11 years since Love Jones made its big screen debut) Barry Jenkins goes and drops Medicine For Melancholy on us and those gates are starting to creak again.
Medicine, an independent feature screening at this years' Los Angeles Film Festival, is "the story of two African-American twenty-somethings who wake up in bed together having no recollection of how they arrived there." The two wander the streets of San Francisco and find themselves at the Museum of African Diaspora, where they discover that they're much more intellectually and spiritually connected than their previous encounter would suggest.
The film covers not only romance but tackles issues of the declining African American presence in major cities (such as San Francisco) due to growing social crises like gentrification...
...A film that's smart and sexy? Now, that's definitely a dose of medicine for what's ailing the film industry.
16 comments:
Love Jones is one of my favorite movies but don't forget about Tyler Perry because he makes good romances too even though he does a lot of comedies. This movie sounds interesting like I might have to go in there with my thinking cap on. I hope it ain't tooooo deep because some independent movies just go way over a sistas head.
To the first comment, Tyler is cool and all but all of his movies are comedies first with a little bit of romance thrown in there and a whole lotta jesus.
Its about time somebody made another romance movie that's different cuz variety is the spice of life.
This sounds like a thought provoking film, wish it was showing here in NYC. Sounds like an urban Twilight Zone with attractive, everyday looking Black folks. Cool.
Absolutely love your work on this blog. I check it often for information that's thankfully outside of the norm of mainstream culture.
It sounds like a good film. I currently live in SF and the population is 700K of which there are only 44K black people (I'm one of them).
I'm originally from NYC and I intend to move back ASAP.
This sounds great! I'm sure it'll make it to NYC eventually. And yeah I don't consider "Diary Of A Mad Black Woman" a romane film. Not even close. I do however think that Chris Rock's "Why I Married My Wife" was one even though it too is a comedy. I guess because it was more about him being in a relationship with his wife than home girl struggling to get out of the one with her crazy husband.
Nice blog you have here! plus this is something to think about.
I believe this will be a thinking person's movie. It looks like its going to face some stereotypes head on by showing 2 un-stereotypical black ppl falling in love. I'm stoked! By the way, Love your Blog.
Thanks for the review. Like many, Love Jones is up there on my fav list...
Well comparing this to Love Jones makes it a must see for me. That is my ultime favorite movie so I will definitely check this out
I saw this film last month in SF. As a native and one of the few thousand blacks left, I'm a sucker for movies with a SF backdrop, especially for identifying various 'hoods and places. The film definitely allows the relationship to unfold in an atypical manner and really tackle the relationship issues amongst blacks without it turning into a blame game. Even the music used in the movie is unexpected, yet it's really good. This type of movie isn't really chatty like most. There are many periods of silence and wondering what's going on in their minds. Really good acting especially from the lead male.
Just wrote about this film today on my blog...agree with just about everything the reader above me said. Keep up the great work over here girls! :-)
I live in San Francisco as well and didn't know about this film. Love Jones is one of my all time faves because intelligent and artist movies that have Black men and women who like..and love each other are so few and far between.
I love this guy on Daily Show, and I live in SSF, all win league.
*adds blog to list*
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