1977 urban dramaRating: 16/20
Plot: An African American family (once known as a black family) fights against dissatisfaction and negative influences in 1970's Los Angeles.
An independent strike against blaxploitation, Killer of Sheep boasts a complete lack of anything even remotely fancy (or even professional). Almost entirely style free in a way that makes it all seem stylish, director Burnett filmed this as his thesis using unprofessional actors and a loose, episodic structure. The result is realistic, not realistic in that Hollywood way where there's ultimately redemption or an ultra-sad scene at the end but closer to a kind of photorealism. It's not a documentary, but it really might as well be. Some troubling scenes depict meanness, ennui, laze, and the unbearable heaviness of a decaying life--brother and dog-faced sister, numerous slaughterhouse scenes, depressingly dropped engines. I love the implied connections between what the kids are doing (throwing rocks at each other, dangerously leaping from building to building, tossing dirt on clean clothes seconds after hung on a clothesline) and the actions of the adults. There's a harsh poetry to this movie that allows you to ignore the rough and scarred exterior (it's got to be one of the cheapest movies ever made), including an "actress" who gives what is without a doubt the worst performance ever. A murky and honest slice of life that I think I like more the more I think about it.
White man, rarely jumping:
There is a semi-cool site called Metacritic that gave this movie one of it's highest grades. Maybe I was hoping for too much. The movie was very effective at creating an oppressive, depressing atmosphere and making me thankful for being born a lower middle-class white boy. The acting, dialogue, and production values are too low-rent to give it more than a 12 on the Shane-scale, but I am glad I saw it, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI can always overlook "low-rent" production and unprofessional acting if the movie's able to effectively capture a mood with unforgetable imagery. As you can probably tell by just thinking about the movies I really like, I'm all about the visuals. And this one grabbed me with the bleak visuals.
ReplyDeleteI definitely wouldn't recommend this to all that many people though. It's sort of dull.