There is a moment of intense discomfort (for me) early in this film as Charles berates his son for having long fingernails. He demands that only sissies wear their fingernails like this and forces him to cut them. His wife, Andais, looks on and is unreadable (for me). It's a vicious, ugly moment that is only heightened as he also says, "I'll give you a reason to cry in a minute." Such a chilling, terrible thing to say to a…

Late era L.A. Rebellion Cinema with looming figure of the the U.C.L.A. launched movement, Charles Burnett, writing, photographing, mentoring, and providing his own family members as actors for director Billy Woodberry in this spiritual sequel to Killer of Sheep.

Misleadingly simple in its construction and tone, taking cues from Latin American Third Cinema, Italian Neorealism, British Kitchen Sink Drama, and all the Marxist economic concerns therein, the movie paints the world of a struggling family in Watts in the early…

While I was watching Kaycee Moore in the role of Andais Banks, I couldn’t help but think of all the strong Black women I knew growing up. As a kid (and obviously with these women being a mother of one of my buddies or a family friend) I never really knew what any of them had been going through and still don’t, but thinking back, my memories of them—of Miss Anita (may she rest in peace), one of my parent’s…

35mm @ UCLA Billy Wilder Theater w/ Charles Burnett Q&A

From Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself:

White America had declared a crisis of the Black family as a cover for its campaign of incremental genocide against its expendable, ex-slave population rendered superfluous by immigrant labor power. So Black filmmakers responded by emphasizing families and children.
Although Hollywood would lend credence to the assault by imagining South Central as a dystopian theme park of crackwhores and drive-by shootings, independent Black…

The most thought provoking part about this for me was :

The Black Woman’s struggle through a heart wrenching lens.

This doesn’t mean that I’ve disregarded the black man’s clear struggle as well; but the pieces where we see this specific pain and the causes of it are most painful to watch. The ‘human’ qualities that this story captures are what make it so hard to watch. There isn’t anything out of the ordinary occurring here, but more of a…

“It’s just me who goes to work; it just me that sees to everything in this house; it’s just me that sees to the kids.” Andais Banks (Kaycee Moore) roars at her bemused husband Charlie (Nate Hardman). For over an hour, we’ve seen this married couple, fighting against the economic headwinds of their desolate, industrial 1970s Los Angeles landscape to little avail, drift apart to find that their finances are crushed; their love is crushed; their souls are crushed. In…

It struck me early on how the scenes in which only adults are talking to each other, especially friends as opposed to a married couple, the acting comes off as stiff and awkward, as if everyone were given their lines for the day on the morning of shooting. Talk among Charlie and his unemployed brethren about their bleak job prospects has an articulate but impotent quality that will be familiar to anyone who has bitched about What America Is Like,…

man, the anguish on display here. a somber symphony of a film. the struggle of an entire people can be seen in not just the faces of the family here, but also their movements. the argument in the kitchen is so very emotional. a scene of perfect acting, and perfectly restrained filmmaking, that moved me deeply. at times it felt like the camera itself is a character, odd considering nothing about this film is flashy in the slightest. yet nearly…

It feels like an epic blues song. A sorrowful memory recalled in real-time. It's painful, profound, and raw, without an ounce of fat on its bones. Nate Hardman gives an extraordinary performance, but I'm absolutely blown away by Kaycee Moore. How they (and director Billy Woodberry) do not have long film careers is heart-breaking, if utterly predictable.

If you have the Criterion Channel and 85 minutes free, please spare some time for Bless Their Little Hearts. It's within spitting distance…