Killer of Sheep is playing this week at the IFC. A powerful work of cinema created over 30 years ago by Charles Burnett and released commercially now for the first time. Shot in black and white without a linear narrative, it is a stunningly poignant imagistic series of vignettes tracking the lives of men, women and children in the Los Angeles ghetto. Sam works in a slaughterhouse, while his children play in the rubble of dilapidated construction sites and his wife preens herself at home in front of the mirror. There is no story perse, only clips of the bleak options Sam's life has to offer: working at a liquor store for a dumpy white woman who wants to seduce him; getting involved in criminal activity. An outing to the horseraces with friends is derailed by a flat tire; a car motor he purchases off of friends is ruined when it falls off the truck; he slow dances in the bedroom with his wife, but cannot make love to her. These shots are interspersed with those of the children who find modes of play within their given environment. They throw rocks at each other in a vacant lot, jump from ledge to ledge on the roofs of apartment buildings, and laughingly pummel each other on the dusty ground. The most amazing scenes were of Sam's 5-year-old daughter (played by Burnett's niece), mind-blowing in their simplicity and the emotions they invoke. She sings to herself while playing with a doll, hangs around the house wearing this crazy dog-face-mask, she comforts her father in the kitchen as her mother looks on from the living room in tears, unable to penetrate the wall of numbness that surrounds Sam. One of Sam's first lines in the film have to do with suicide, and the final scene shows the bloody process of sticking, hanging, killing, de-skinning and hacking up sheep in the slaughterhouse. Despite the hopelessness of the subject matter, the stark beauty of the imagery and the soulful soundtrack hold the film aloft.
Some awesome and intriguing previews as well:
ZOO: a doc about a man who is partial to horses
The Holy Mountain: some insane psychedelic mindtrip with religious iconography gone wild, made in the 70s.
Day Night Day Night: Suicide Bomber in Times Square
The Boss Of It All: newest offering from Lars Von Trier - a comedy! - about an actor hired to perform the role of a CEO in an office
Fay Grim: Hal Hartley's latest starring James Urbaniak (love him) and Parker Posey (and Jeff Goldblum)
Black Sheep: a mock horror movie about the attack of the man-eating sheep!
Totally sold on becoming an IFC member. Free popcorn!
1 comment:
just watched this last night, and am slightly haunted by it. it was really quite mesmerizing, i think-- Burnett really pulls you into this world without any real narrative, or plot line. it was all subliminal, without ever being manipulative. it was all based on a feeling(s) for me: watching these kids play, the juxtaposition between adult life and child life, and how at the end of the day, they are not much different.
one thing that was hard for me to grasp though, is context. because this film was made 30 years ago, i had a hard time "getting" Burnett's motives-- whether if at the time, it would have been considered exploitative, or if the parts i laughed at were really intended to be funny.
i appreciate the subtlety of this film, it was never in-your-face violent or dogmatic about any particular issue. it was moving and melancholy and thoughtful.
here is more info about the neighborhood and the Watts riots-- the landscape in this film is very startling, and deeply integral to the film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_riots
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