MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY, Barry Jenkins, USA
Director Barry Jenkins’ film Medicine for Melancholy shows an all-too-rare picture of artistically minded, middle-class black people who can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than at a museum. But far from being just an idealistic portrayal of a black bourgeois minority, Medicine for Melancholy offers a realistic view into the lives of imperfect 20-something San Franciscans in search of identity and meaning in a city where gentrification increasingly erases their humanity.
The film introduces the characters of Jo (Tracey Heggins) and Micah (Wyatt Cenac), who find themselves waking up in the morning after an alcohol-infused one-night stand and not remembering how they ended up together. Micha tries to convince Jo (who initially lies about her real name) to join him for breakfast and get to know each other better.
Despite her apprehensions, given the fact that her well-off live-in white boyfriend is away in Europe, Jo acquiesces to Micha’s desire to explore a deeper connection. Through their bohemian interactions around San Francisco, Jo and Micha, in Barry Jenkins’ words, discuss the “modern complexities of living as a declining minority in America's major cities.”
Their deeply philosophical discussions are set in a beautifully shot background of “indie” San Francisco. The film adeptly exposes the reality that, in the midst of all this culture and buoyancy, one can walk dozens of blocks without seeing a single black face.
Call it a classic urban romance with a DuBoisian twist.
Medicine for Melancholy screens at the Toronto International Film Festival on:
Tuesday, SEPT. 9th – 8:45 PM @ AMC Theatre (Dundas Square)
Wednesday, SEPT. 10th – 5:45 PM @ AMC Theatre (Dundas Square)
YOUSSOU NDOUR: I BRING WHAT I LOVE, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, USA
Youssou Ndour is an internationally renowned singer-griot from the West African country of Senegal. His country’s preeminent musical export, he became known to a wider audience through his collaborations with Peter Gabriel and the hit song “7 Seconds” with Neneh Cherry. Time Magazine named him among the world’s 100 most influential people.
Several years in the making, Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love is a film that chronicles the controversy surrounding the release of Ndour’s album Egypt in 2004. The making of the Egypt album was a deeply personal journey and humanistic statement for Youssou Ndour. He composed it to promote a more tolerant view of his native faith of Islam.
Despite winning a Grammy Award in 2005, many in his own homeland of Senegal denounced the album as blasphemous.
A devout Sufi Muslim, Youssou Ndour felt frustrated with the negative perception of Islam around the world and wanted to use his music to redress the balance. But conservatives in his country denounced him for releasing the album during the holy month of Ramadan. Still, in Youssou Ndour’s mind, “Egypt is more than a country … it’s a concept. ... a concept of coming together.”
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love has one remaining screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on:
Saturday, SEPT. 13th – 3:45 PM @ Scotiabank Theatre (259 Richmond Street West)
SKIN, Anthony Fabian, South Africa
Skin is a powerful real-life story of Sandra Laing – a black woman born to white parents in the middle of Apartheid’s heyday in 1955 South Africa. In a truly surreal biological twist of faith, Laing’s birth was the result of a gene leap from an unknown black ancestor in the family history of her Apartheid-supporting Afrikaner National Party parents.
Needless to say, Laing’s life was not without struggles. Her tormented existence led her, at the tender age of 15, to elope with a black man – which caused her to be disowned by her family and the entire community.
In the film, Oscar-nominated actress Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) plays Sandra Laing. Skin leaves no stone unturned as it tackles the underlying thorny issues of institutional racism, its link to religion, and what really constitutes a human being’s identity and sense of community.
When the science of genetics throws such a major societal curveball, the unravelling of raw human emotions is a fascinating process to watch on film.
Skin has two remaining screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival:
Wednesday, SEPT. 10th – 9:30 PM @ AMC Theatre (Dundas Square)
Saturday, SEPT. 13th – 9:45 PM @ Scotiabank Theatre (259 Richmond Street West)
