Just my observations. Take them for what they are worth: I saw three films about musical icons: Fela Kuti, James Brown, and Nasir Jones. Only one film was directed by filmmakers of color, Nas: Time is Illmatic. I noticed a big difference between that film and the others. The Nas film was directed by Erik Parker, One9, and associate produced by Martha Diaz. Filmmakers of color. You could tell that these filmmakers were deeply connected to the subject and the culture they were making the film about. There was a visual language of love and understanding that was present throughout the film. The story of Nas, his family, his community, his art, were all contextualized in a way that made you feel sincere compassion and a human connection. The subjects in the film were not cartoonish or caricatured in any way. It honored Nas and the genre of music he masters. His family and friends were humanized, not dehumanized. There was no other agenda other than to tell an authentic, real, honest story about a man and the creation of his first album, Illmatic. The filmmakers made the film because the story they wanted to tell burned within them, and they were going to tell it no matter what, no matter how long. It took them 10 years, mostly because they had to scrape by with little resources, until a man of color, Orlando Bagwell recognized that their story had value, and that they should be supported. The filmmakers werent interested in reaching a mainstream audience or driven by commercial forces. They werent interested in making white audiences feel comfortable. They told their story without sanitizing their subject, and without apologies. As a viewer, I got the sense that they truly cared about the artist and the community that groomed him into the artist he became. That high level of respect made the filmmakers feel accountable to their subject and his community. Its hard to explain, but I believe you can tell the difference between storytellers who seek to exploit a culture, versus storytellers who want to honor a culture. And thats the biggest thing I got out of watching three films about black icons who have made huge contributions to black culture. Two were good, but only one was great.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 17:53:41 +0000
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