The tension between uncovering hidden aspects of film history and respecting the lives of those contained within it form the undergirding conflict of Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman, a film of such multitudinous interests and storytelling pursuits that it replicates the ecstasy of newfound romance. The film’s crux, beyond the blossoming lesbian relationship at its core, is Dunye’s aligning of hidden historiographies with the hassle of dating—of searching for something (or someone) that, at the surface, cannot be immediately seen with the naked eye.
Dunye establishes the problem of incomplete histories as Cheryl (Dunye) and Tamara (Valarie Walker) debate the value of, as Tamara puts it, watching “mammy shit from the ’30s.” They do so from behind the counter of a Philadelphia video store, where their employ is less driven by cinephilia—though Cheryl clearly knows her shit—than economic necessity. Unlike Kevin Smith’s Clerks,...
Dunye establishes the problem of incomplete histories as Cheryl (Dunye) and Tamara (Valarie Walker) debate the value of, as Tamara puts it, watching “mammy shit from the ’30s.” They do so from behind the counter of a Philadelphia video store, where their employ is less driven by cinephilia—though Cheryl clearly knows her shit—than economic necessity. Unlike Kevin Smith’s Clerks,...
- 7/14/2023
- by Clayton Dillard
- Slant Magazine
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: "The Watermelon Woman"
Where You Can Stream It: Fubo, Kanopy, Fandor, and Showtime streaming
The Pitch: This 1996 indie follows Cheryl, a Black lesbian in her 20s who's working at a video store alongside her friend Tamara (Valarie Walker). After Cheryl discovers an old black-and-white movie featuring a (fictional) Black actress credited only as "The Watermelon Woman," she begins a documentary project in hopes...
The post The Daily Stream: The Watermelon Woman Questions Film History, and Makes it Too appeared first on /Film.
The Movie: "The Watermelon Woman"
Where You Can Stream It: Fubo, Kanopy, Fandor, and Showtime streaming
The Pitch: This 1996 indie follows Cheryl, a Black lesbian in her 20s who's working at a video store alongside her friend Tamara (Valarie Walker). After Cheryl discovers an old black-and-white movie featuring a (fictional) Black actress credited only as "The Watermelon Woman," she begins a documentary project in hopes...
The post The Daily Stream: The Watermelon Woman Questions Film History, and Makes it Too appeared first on /Film.
- 7/26/2022
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
There’s a scene in Cheryl Dunye’s groundbreaking 1996 debut, “The Watermelon Woman” in which Dunye is hassled by two police officers. Playing a fictionalized version of herself, the Black lesbian endures their harassment as they mistake her for a man and call her a “crackhead.” The scene is a short one; after the cops search her, they let her go, and she doesn’t mention the encounter again. It’s a moment of head-shaking, not skull-cracking.
In a recent conversation with IndieWire, Dunye recalled a Q&a in which a young viewer marveled at how the filmmaker could have been so prescient in trumpeting “Black Lives Matter” issues. “That was an issue then!,” she said with a laugh, not dwelling on the pain underlying her statement. “I think that speaks to the power and the double-edged nature of this moment. This was happening before me, you’re just seeing...
In a recent conversation with IndieWire, Dunye recalled a Q&a in which a young viewer marveled at how the filmmaker could have been so prescient in trumpeting “Black Lives Matter” issues. “That was an issue then!,” she said with a laugh, not dwelling on the pain underlying her statement. “I think that speaks to the power and the double-edged nature of this moment. This was happening before me, you’re just seeing...
- 11/14/2016
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
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