The 30th annual edition of the Gene Siskel Film Center’s Black Harvest Film Festival is now in the books, having featured an array of narrative, documentary and short films. The event featured a strong lineup of offerings this year, perhaps the best I’ve ever seen at this festival. In all, I managed to catch six films during the festival’s two-week run. So, with that said, here’s my take on what I watched and what I thought.

“Color Book” (USA) (9/10); Letterboxd (4.5/5), Imdb.com (9/10), TMDB.com (9/10); Web site

I always find it amazing when a movie comes along that’s effectively able to warm and break one’s heart at the same time, but that’s precisely the feat accomplished by writer-director David Fritz Fortune’s impressive debut feature. This simple but powerful, moving tale tells the touching story of a recently widowed single father (William Catlett) who goes to tremendous lengths to take his Down Syndrome-affected son (Jeremiah Alexander Daniels) to his first baseball game in hopes that it will help cheer him up in the wake of the untimely death of his mother (Brandee Evans). Beautifully filmed in black and white, the picture follows the adventures and misadventures of a devoted Atlanta father doing everything he can to care for his special needs child while simultaneously attempting to bring a little joy into his life, all the while dealing with his own grief at the loss of the wife he truly adored. In doing so, the filmmaker serves up a thoroughly engaging story about love and the challenges to maintain it under trying circumstances such as these, a film filled with laughs, tears, setbacks and milestone victories. There’s nothing especially fancy about this offering, but its sustained, earnest authenticity is palpable and enveloping without ever becoming manipulative, melodramatic or schmaltzy. It’s no exaggeration to say that it earns whatever feelings it evokes among viewers, an accomplishment magnificently achieved through cinematic devices as basic as powerful facial expressions, the undeniable warmth and chemistry between father and son, and gorgeous, unpretentious imagery. Admittedly, this release feels a little stretched out in the final act, almost as if the filmmaker wasn’t quite sure how to wrap things up. But, that minor shortcoming aside, it’s easy to see how “Color Book” captured the Chicago International Film Festival Audience Favorite Award for US Features – it’s truly that good. This festival release may be a little difficult to find at the moment, but it deserves a general release, showing us what’s possible where there’s love – and plenty of it – the kind of story that we could all stand to see more of these days.

“The Black Sea” (USA/Bulgaria) (8/10); Letterboxd (4/5), Imdb.com (8/10), TMDB.com (8/10); Web site, Trailer

Being a stranger in a strange land can be an uncomfortable, exasperating experience. At the same time, though, it can also be just what one needs, especially for those seeking to turn their lives around. Such is the case with Khalid (actor-director Derrick B. Harden), a genial, ambitious, opportunistic African-American dreamer from Brooklyn who, sadly, just doesn’t seem to be able to get his act together. But, when he’s offered a lucrative new opportunity – one he finds on Facebook of all places – to relocate to Sozopol, a small Bulgarian resort town on the Black Sea coast, to become the “companion” of a woman in desperate “need” of finding a Black man (on the advice of a fortune teller), he jumps at the chance. There’s just one hitch – hours before his arrival, she dies, thereby stranding him without his payment and the means to return home. Those circumstances are further complicated when his passport is stolen, leaving him stuck and unable to book a flight back to the US. He thus reluctantly becomes reconciled to the idea of having to stay put for a while as he attempts to sort out his circumstances. However, the more time he spends in his unexpected new home, the more he finds himself easily fitting in and making friends with the locals, especially Ina (Irmena Chichikova), the owner of a travel agency and his eventual business partner in a popular café/night spot. And, except for some menacing dealings with a powerful local godfather (Stoyo Mirkov) who’s accustomed to being the community’s top dog (and resents being upstaged by the popular new arrival), things generally go well for the unwitting transplant. But will they stay that way? Directors Harden and Crystal Moselle have put together a real charmer in this warm, funny comedy-drama chronicling the evolution of an infectiously likable character beset with a seemingly impossible challenge but who aggressively hustles to successfully make lemonade out of the big bushel of lemons that’s been handed him. The story’s focus on a hapless but amiable everyman who’s unceremoniously marooned in a wholly unfamiliar setting (one that most American viewers are also likely unfamiliar with) in which he doesn’t speak the language gives this film a distinctive character all its own, a refreshing development in light of the current sagging state of the domestic movie industry. Despite some occasional narrative meandering, this offering is otherwise a real gem, a heartwarming comedy in which one can’t help but pull for the underdog, no matter how much he might slip up or inadvertently get in his own way. “The Black Sea” is indeed a rare find, one that now genuinely deserves to have an audience find it.

“Disco Afrika: une histoire malgache” (“Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story”) (France/Madagascar/Germany/Mauritius/Qatar/South Africa) (7/10); Letterboxd (3.5/5), Imdb.com (7/10), TMDB.com (7/10); Web site, Trailer

An old saying maintains that “Those who don’t learn from history are destined to repeat it.” But an arguably more accurate take on that sentiment was espoused by author Mark Twain, who asserted that “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” That thinking is perhaps one of the most precise ways of describing the history of the African island nation of Madagascar since gaining its independence from France in 1960. In the time since then, the country has undergone a series of uprisings between rival factions on the right and left, with the nation’s residents – the Malagasy people – caught in the middle, suffering the social, political and economic consequences, conditions that have continued virtually unabated to this day. In his second feature outing, writer-director Luck Razanajaona has brought these circumstances to light in a project that has taken years to complete, one set in contemporary Madagascar but that, realistically speaking, could have taken place almost at any time since the 1970s. The film follows 20-year-old Kwame (Parista Sambo), an independent prospector clandestinely panning for gems in the nation’s sapphire reserves in hopes of striking it rich to provide for his aging mother (Laurette Ramasinjanahary). But, when an unexpected tragedy occurs, he’s forced to return home to save himself and regroup. Once there, though, while searching for work, he soon becomes caught up between rival factions seeking to maintain power and reformers looking to oust those who have made life miserable for everyday Malagasies. At the same time, Kwame faces a moral dilemma – whether to remain loyal to an influential but shady childhood companion, Idi (Joe Clarence Lerova), who promises to help him find the remains of his deceased father (a murder victim killed by authorities years earlier), or to expose the corruption of his seemingly respectable friend to those seeking sociopolitical reform. It’s a difficult choice for someone so young and inexperienced, but finding a way to reconcile these options is essential to staying alive in such a volatile environment. The filmmaker creates undeniable tension in this story as it plays out, shining a bright light on a nation whose internal struggles are palpable but little known or understood to the outside world. What’s more, this offering features innovative ways of chronicling the nature of the island nation’s troubles, such as showing the influence of music in their unfolding (hence the title), as well as the surrealistic impact of deceased ancestors guiding the living through their ordeals. Admittedly, this release might have benefitted from some additional back story references (at least for viewers from outside of the region), but, as a film almost certainly made for audiences already familiar with these events, their inclusion here might have seemed a little too obvious or heavy-handed. “Disco Afrika” speaks volumes about its nation’s status and does so with great candor and eloquence in telling the story of a people desperate for change and the difficulties involved in realizing it, no matter how hard they work at it.

“The Weekend” (Nigeria) (7/10); Letterboxd (3.5/5), Imdb.com (7/10), TMDB.com (7/10); Web site, Trailer

Many of us look on the concept of “family” as sacred and unassailable. But, if someone were to stringently advise you against meeting his or her relatives, it may be a recommendation worth heeding, as seen in this intense Nigerian horror thriller. When a young woman (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) who grew up as an only child under a single mother pleads with her fiancé (Bucci Franklin) to introduce her to his family, he emphatically recommends against it, insisting that they’re not the kind of people that she should want to meet. However, his lack of elaboration as to why only steels her resolve to make this happen, eventually prompting him to reluctantly relent to her wishes. They thus set off for a weekend visit to the rural village of his parents (Gloria Young, Keppy Ekpenyong-Bassey) for their golden wedding anniversary celebration. Once there, though, his family’s dark secrets slowly emerge, leading to the disclosure of shocking revelations that live up to all the advanced billing attributed to them. To say more would reveal too much, but suffice it to say that the trip discloses much more than what the young bride-to-be had bargained for. In telling this story, director Daniel Oriahi serves up a perfectly gruesome tale filled with lots of good scares and a deliciously macabre sense of humor that grows progressively more campy with each passing frame. Indeed, it’s the kind of yarn that will leave viewers nervously laughing at events that they probably think they shouldn’t be giggling about, but therein lies the film’s carefully crafted guilty pleasure appeal. Admittedly, those qualities may not be as readily apparent as they probably ought to be in the picture’s opening act, leaving audience members thinking that the narrative is unduly mean-spirited, but those developments are all integral to the setup for what’s to come, a foundation that allows this offering’s wicked humor to surface in all its grisly glory. The filmmaker deftly presents his material for maximum shock value but without becoming gratuitous or grotesque, quite a feat for a movie like this, one very much in line with the principles of Hitchcock’s Rule that one’s imagination is far more effective in conjuring ghastly images than anything the director could possibly depict on screen. “The Weekend” is thus one of those pictures that will evoke notions of what it feels like to whistle one’s way through the graveyard at midnight on Halloween, leaving viewers with lots of good frights but nevertheless secure in the knowledge that they’ll emerge from the theater well and intact, able to face yet another day, even if it means occasionally looking over their shoulder to see that there are no unwelcome relatives following them home.

“Black Table” (USA) (6/10); Letterboxd (3/5), Imdb.com (6/10), TMDB.com (6/10); Web site

Those in the minority – no matter what the defining trait associated with that might be – often find comfort, support and camaraderie in the company of kindred spirits when surrounded by others who don’t share this commonality. For African-American students at Yale University in the 1990s, this could be found at “the Black Table,” a gathering spot for those similarly situated within Commons, the university’s legendary cavernous dining hall, a venue resembling a setting out of the “Harry Potter” movies. The Black Table served as an oasis for students of color in the midst of a predominantly White (and not always particularly tolerant) student body, a place where they could share ideas, swap stories, engage in discussions (sometimes heated) and find common ground. The experiences of students who availed themselves of this era’s version of a social network thus provide the basis for this documentary from writer-directors John Antonio James and Billy Mack. The film examines what the students gained from their interactions with one another and how they collectively faced the sometimes-challenging conditions that prevailed on campus and in society at large at the time. It also serves as a springboard for explorations of an array of other subjects, such as the impact of affirmative action on minority admissions (a controversial program that was undergoing change at the time) and how their tenure at Yale prepared them for life after college. However, “Black Table” works best when it focuses on the aspects associated with its core premise, its offshoot tangents frequently getting somewhat off-track and acting more like filler. And, because of that, the end result here inevitably reveals that there may not have been enough material in the first place to build a full feature film around it. Indeed, this release likely would have made a better extended short or episode of a PBS series. The alumni’s time at the Black Table obviously meant much to them, but those experiences would have made for a better film with greater depth and attention focused on them than what this release ultimately offers.

“Jimmy” (USA/Turkey/France) (6/10); Letterboxd (3/5), Imdb.com (6/10), TMDB.com (6/10); Web site, Trailer

From 1948 to 1957, author James Baldwin relocated from New York to Paris in hopes of finding a more fulfilling life, both personally and creatively. But what was that experience actually like for a young African-American man who had grown wary of the relentless discrimination he had faced in his homeland, both on the basis of his race and sexual orientation? That’s what this black-and-white documentary-style release attempts to envision, following a young Baldwin (Benny O. Arthur) in his explorations of the City of Lights, told from an impressionist standpoint primarily in cinema verité format made to look like vintage archive footage. The result is an experimental, decidedly ambitious undertaking from writer-director Yashaddai Owens that works beautifully on some levels but misses the mark on others. “Jimmy” effectively captures the curiosity and wonder of a wide-eyed adventurer exploring a new world, one in which he’s able to enjoy freedoms that weren’t accessible to him in America. It’s a place where he could now feel a sense of liberation unlike anything he had experienced before. However, in depicting these revelations, the filmmaker puzzlingly seems to run out of material unexpectedly quickly, a rather perplexing outcome for a picture with scant 1:07:00 runtime that features an innately flamboyant, charismatic protagonist in a rich, culturally and artistically diverse environment. Instead, the narrative falls back on a lot of footage that feels more like filler than insightful and engaging imagery. In addition, having been filmed in modern-day Paris, far too little effort has been made at trying to conceal or exclude anachronistic elements that get caught on camera, an oversight that some might call nitpicking but that occurs all too often to ignore. Some aspects of Baldwin’s character receive short shrift, too, such as precious little attention paid to the emergence of his gay lifestyle, an element that almost feels intentionally underplayed. The same can be said about his observations of life and the world, material that adds much when incorporated into the film but that is employed far too seldomly for my tastes. However, perhaps the most bewildering element here is the production’s inclusion of a somewhat lengthy home movie-style travelogue of Istanbul at the film’s outset with no images of Baldwin anywhere in sight. While it’s true that the author lived in the Turkish metropolis on and off for many years, he didn’t spend time there until after his days in Paris, so the presence of this footage is quite baffling, ill-timed and, ultimately, fundamentally extraneous. To be sure, “Jimmy” is to be commended for its casting of a lead who bears an uncanny resemblance and demeanor to the picture’s protagonist and for tackling an undertaking as audacious as this, but the end result comes across as a case of the filmmaker’s reach exceeding his grasp for a project that, sadly, deserves better.

Copyright © 2024, by Brent Marchant. All rights reserved.