Wednesday, November 5, 2008

LOOKING FOR LANGSTON by Isaac Julien

Looking for Langston created by British born filmmaker Isaac Julien, presents the Harlem Renaissance revered poet, Langston Hughes. This documentary explores the life of Langston Hughes an artist craving to be loved by the object of his desire a black man named Beauty. It typifies the black gay social elite plight for acceptance and tolerance and centers around a smoky speakeasy in Harlem. This is a short which was created in 1989 which gives perspective to the black gay man lifestyle in coping with homophobia, and white racism in the 1920’s this is not a biography but a memoriam to Langston Hughes. Included in this sultry black and white film are mixtures of poems and archival footage from James Baldwin, Bruce Nugent and photographic works of Robert Mapplethorpe a tribute to Langston Hughes.








Critic/Movie review
Looking for Langston Capsule by Jonathan RosenbaumFrom the Chicago Reader
Isaac Julien's frankly erotic black-and-white meditation on the Harlem renaissance of the 1930s. Part narrative, part polemical essay, part lyrical art film, part documentary on Langston Hughes, this 1988 British film employs clips from various kinds of archival footage (including three Oscar Micheaux films), quotes from Hughes, Essex Hemphill, Bruce Nugent, Hilton Als, and James Baldwin (the last read by Toni Morrison), and memorable glimpses of a period nightclub where black and white men in tuxedos dance together. The results are certainly striking--stylistically, intellectually, and sensually. 40 min.







Photographs from film



2 comments:

cheryl dunye said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
cheryl dunye said...

good but i think you could have contextualized Julien more in the context of queer film as discussed in the text.
also watch your awkward sentences:

"This is a short which was created in 1989 which gives perspective to the black gay man lifestyle in coping with homophobia, and white racism in the 1920’s this is not a biography but a memoriam to Langston Hughes."