The film is narrated by one of the striking nurses. Her voice is calm, and even, and… there’s another quality to her narration which I can’t pinpoint. It’s not soft or strident; she’s not telling a bedtime story, or an epic; it’s almost as if she is reading a witness statement into the record. Her narration is sure; like she knows it will stand the test of time. And she takes her time - just to ensure you can follow.
Read MoreThere are many things that surprised me about Welcome II the Terrordome on my first watch. Surprisingly astute, in tune, synchronized. The story has a strong scaffold: a cinematic mirror image between Igbo Landing and the Transdean, or the Terrordome. So, I’m going to treat Terrordome’s story scaffold as the code, or at least a foundation of the code.
Read MoreFLASHBACK: Year 1 of The Luminal Film Club. Our Year 1 theme was Love, and Julian Henriques’ 1998 film Babymother was our second ever pick. We all came away with the same sentiment: we really want to re-watch this film in a Black British setting. (…)
Read MoreOur conversations about the film always end with a brief exchange about whether we liked the film or not, and whether and how it is important. But it took me a while to wonder, well why don’t we speak more in depth about it? Like, a real, full community conversation?
Pursuing life and being with archival lineages through community which might be synthetic, which may have deposits of truth; which we might construct for ourselves and one another.
So, DO WE REALLY TAKE THE WATERMELON WOMAN SERIOUSLY?
Read MoreRoles are important in all narratives, but especially so in dystopian ones. It is always useful to have someone well versed in the law… as well as someone well versed in medicine and someone well versed in, say… communications? or perhaps let’s call it information sciences. So in this film, the networked protagonists are something of a three-in-one structure - Antonio the attorney, Capitù the Surgeon, and André the journalist. Or put another way - Antonio the ethical protector, Capitù the creative carer, and André the mischievous messenger. They are Black (or “highly-melanated”) and highly skilled and in deep community with one another. And still, the film centers on this conundrum - which André gives voice to when he asks “How did we let it get to this?”
Read MoreOne film club member was struck by how James Baldwin relates himself, as a Black American, to others. Particularly how, in this case, he relates himself across diaspora to self-described “West Indians” in Britain. Those who are generationally American in film club related to the opening of his soliloquy with being asked by a Black British West Indian man “Where are you from?”
Read MoreSeek out views from the rubble to accompany your watching of Open Bethlehem. Check out Reverend Munther Isaac's "Christ in the Rubble" Easter sermon, whether you are Christian or not, because, as Reverend Issac says, should Christ be born today, Christ would be born in the rubble. And for those who love their liturgies, or are just curious about the entire service: Christ in the Rubble: a Liturgy.
Read MoreThe possibilities of this dream state. That it allows us to access the grieving mother’s perspective, or perhaps an idealized version of this perspective.
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