Micah (Wyatt Cenac - The Daily Show)
Joanne (Tracey Heggins)
San Francisco (as Self - Home to the folks)
Writer-director Barry Jenkins.
The photo of the film's lead couple caught my eye immediately. Especially the young lady... and once I saw 'that new younger Black cat from The Daily Show', I was in. The movie was over in WeHo (Laemmle's Sunset) and my friend and I were on the beach. Dinner was great. Good food, great company, grand conversation... and we were off.
We got to the box office just in time. Parking. Check. Tickets. Check. In, up the stairs and... BAM! There was that lovely face I'd seen in the Photo. Apparently, the show just before ours had been the actual semi-premier 'Screening' of the film and the Writer/Director and Stars were all in attendance for a Q&A, etc. Curses, foiled again! I would have had a few choice questions - at the very least.
At any rate...
The movie was pretty cool.
A young couple wake up (alone/together) in a room awash with subtle lights and prepare for their day. As they leave, we get our very first surprise of the film, when the two introduce themselves, learning one another's names for the very first time...
As the rest of the film goes on, we watch the hustle and tussle of two total strangers becoming friends (and/or a bit more?) as the cab, bike, walk, run errands, visit museums, sit, stand and lay together over the course of the day. They even spend a bit of time visiting one another's apartments, visiting a club and all in all having a ball! The entire time, I just could not take my eyes off of the lead actress who has a warmth, natural beauty and simple realism to her person that (for me) far overshadows any wants in her performance.
In the meantime and in between time, the two discus, art, music, their love lives and race. Both characters are African-American in a city that really is not. They live their lives as just people with one putting a lot of importance on their race-cultural identity while the other seems content in just 'being'. With my own background and history in pocket, I found a lot of it quite interesting and was only distracted by the anti-gentrification promo that lands well into the film by way of a 10 minute excursion into what seems to be a very real town-hall meeting of San Francisco residents talking about the ebb and flow of the city's populace.
Other than that, none too shabby especially with so many novices in position. A small, intimate, likable film overall and one that I might just add to the collection later... if only to keep an eye on Ms. Tracey Heggins.
Running time: 88 minutes. Not rated (sexuality).
- Trace Heggins discusses her take on the making of 'Medicine For Melancholy -
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