It finally happened. I watched Love & Basketball. I’ve watched a lot of romantic comedies/dramas in my time (hence why it’s strange I have not seen this one) and I can definitively say this one has all the classic elements: enemies to lovers, a dramatic reunion (or 2!), an amazing soundtrack, Gabrielle Union… you know the deal.
Today’s film was the 1920 silent film Within Our Gates written and directed by Oscar Micheaux. It is the oldest surviving feature length film directed by a black director.
Last night’s movie in our Quarantine Movie Marathon was the 1972 blaxploitation horror film, Blacula. The film was directed by William Crain, one of the first successful black filmmakers to have graduated from a major film school. The film stars William Marshall as Mamuwalde, an 18th century African prince who— while visiting Transylvania to advocate for the abolition of the slave trade— is captured and turned into a vampire by Count Dracula who renames him “Blacula.” Dracula imprisons him in a coffin for centuries and leaves his wife to die in the crypt containing Blacula’s coffin. Blacula wakes up in 1972 after a gay couple purchases the coffin at an estate sale.
Last night I watched the first film in my marathon, Eve’s Bayou. Eve’s Bayou was written and directed by Kasi Lemmons and released in 1997 (my birth year!) . The film stars Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Meagan Good, Diahann Carroll, and Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Eve. The film follows a wealthy black family living in the Louisiana bayou in 1962 and the aftermath of Eve catching her father cheating on her mother.
Quarantine marathon! I'll be watching 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.
Recently, I had the pleasure of watching Franco Rosso’s 1980 film, Babylon. I had been meaning to watch this film for a while and, though I’m not sure what my exact expectations for this film were, they were undeniably exceeded.