Quarantine Black Movie Marathon: Introduction
Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors in The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
Hello from my bedroom!
Hope everyone is staying home and staying safe. I’ve seen a lot of lists out there of movies to watch during quarantine/social distancing and—as someone who doesn’t need a quarantine to watch movies in bed all day (shoutout social anxiety)— I thought I’d put my two cents in because sometimes unoriginality is ok. However, I didn’t just want to make a list. My first thought was to watch a movie every day and write a little something about about it. But I also didn’t just want to watch aimlessly like I usually do— I want to get something out of this.
For the past month or so I’ve been on a Sidney Poitier kick and have become a little obsessed. To Sir, With Love was the first film of his that I had ever seen and my first emotion was that I had been missing out on something. This lead me to think about what other black films I had been missing out on. Yes, I’ve seen a good amount in my twenty three years and do make an effort to watch black films generally; however, considering I wasn’t allowed to watch anything deemed “inappropriate” by my mother until I was sixteen, I have some lost time to make up for.
So, for my quarantine marathon I'll watch one classic black film a day and, hopefully, when this is all over I will be thoroughly educated. I’ll announce what movie I’ll be watching the night before and then write what I thought about the film the next day. Ideally, others will watch with me and we can build a conversation about black film in the comments or on social media but I’m also very cool with just talking to myself.
Tonight I will officially begin the marathon with Kasi Lemmon’s 1997 film, Eve’s Bayou, and write about it tomorrow. For now I’ll leave you with a list of my suggestions from the black films I’ve already seen. These films are not all perfect films and don’t include every black film I have ever seen but are those that have made an impression on me. I have split them up into smaller categories just to give a little more oomph. Some films definitely fit into multiple categories but I didn’t want to make it too cluttered so I didn’t repeat films.
If you have any thoughts on the films on my list or films you think I should watch, want to yell at me for not having seen something (I’m just going to get this over with now and take responsibility… I have not seen Love & Basketball, I don’t know how that’s possible either, and I will correct that imminently), or just have any other thoughts don’t hesitate to reach out. :)
My Suggestions
Moonlight (2016) Dir. Barry Jenkins
Personal Favorites
Moonlight (2016)
Black Orpheus (1959)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Daughters of the Dust (1991)
Get Out (2017)
The Watermelon Woman (1996)
To Sir, With Love (1967)
Homecoming (2019)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Friday (1995)
The Essentials
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Paris is Burning (1990)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
When They See Us (2019)
Boyz N the Hood (1991)
Senegalese Film Black Girl (1966)
Foreign Film
Black Girl (1966)
City of God (2002)
Girlhood (2014)
Atlantics (2019)
Intouchables (2011)
Difret (2014)
Solange in Bring it On: All or Nothing (2006)
It Was a Cultural Reset
Sister Act (1992)
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)
Hitch (2005)
B.A.P.S (1997)
Bring it On (2000)
Bring it On: All or Nothing (2006)
Girls Trip (2017)
Daddy Day Care (2003)
Baby’s First Classic
Space Jam (1996)
Daddy Day Care (2003)
Remember the Titans (2000)
The Wiz (1978)
The Proud Family Movie (2005)
Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
Dee Ree’s Pariah (2011)
Black Love
Beyond the Lights (2014)
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
Pariah (2011)
Jordan Peele’s Us (2019)
BBD: Big Black Directors
Us (2019)
Black Panther (2018)
Creed (2015)
Selma (2014)
The Hate U Give (2018), based on the novel by Angie Thomas
Based On A…
Belle (2013)
The Hate U Give (2018)
The Color Purple (1985)
O’Shea Jackson Jr. as his father in Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Nobody’s Perfect
Hidden Figures (2016)
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Dear White People (2014)
Just Another Girl in the I.R.T. (1992)
Indie Excellence
Tangerine (2015)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
Just Another Girl in the I.R.T (1992)
The Fits (2015)
Strong Island (2017)
What’s Up Doc
Strong Island (2017)
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
13th (2016)
The Year We Thought About Love (2015)
Color Adjustment (1992)
Ethnic Notions (1986)
Les Miserables (2019)
Newbies
Waves (2019)
Les Miserables (2019)
Soul Plane (2004)
Guilty Pleasures Don’t Exist
Think Like a Man (2012)
White Chicks (2004)… does this count?
Soul Plane (2004)
See you soon,
Sofia
