Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 0059259180308 Format: Color, NTSC Label: Water Bearer Films Manufacturer: Water Bearer Films Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Water Bearer Films Release Date: November 11, 1998 Running Time: 45 minutes Sales Rank: 17409 Studio: Water Bearer Films Theatrical Release Date: 1989
Rating: - Treatise on Black Gay Desire & Impressionistic Cinema
In mainstream gay cinema, the images of the black gay man is somewhat controversial and contrived. Often, he is portrayed as the overly effete stereotype. For the sake of the dollar and to appeal to cross-cultural fetishistic interest to reach a wider audience, he is often shown preferring and seeking out the attentions of white gay men. Writer-director Isaac Julien's LOOKING FOR LANGSTON represents a departure from the status quo of the image of black gay men while also attempting to reclaim the black gay identity and history that only now is beginning to be widely acknowledged by the general ... Read More
Rating: - Haunting and equisite poetry in motion!
I first saw this film and have been entranced by it ever since- i can't explain it- it was like the first time I ever swam. The film is made so beautifully- it worships the contibution the poet Langston Hughes made on this earth- and also lends itself to celebrating the strength that other gay men- and, hell, anyone on the outer- should feel and be thankful for. Triumph of belief and passion over misguided energy and vanity. This film worships risk-takers, underdogs and worships the gentle strength in the human male (so rarely explored) and seems to celebrate our connection to nature in a very vivid ... Read More
Rating: - A brilliant counter-history
Julien seeks to mine the archive of the Harlem Renaissance for what has been lost or forgotten, namely the role of gay black men--writers, visual artists, and singers--in official history. More than this, however, this film moves backward and forward in time, an homage to black gay men today and the dangers they face and have faced in U.S. history. The final coup of the film is that it is not about Langston Hughes but rather uses Hughes as an icon for the ineffability of identity itself--was Hughes gay or straight? Julien refuses to answer the question, refuses spectacle and surveillance as means ... Read More
Rating: - Looking For Langston? Look Elsewhere
This pretentious film reveals little about Langston Hughes, one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. Instead the filmmaker seems more interested in parading around a cadre of gay men on screen for no apparent reason. The film doesn't even explore with any depth the alleged sexual proclivities of Mr. Hughes. However, hat's off to the cinematographer and the production designer -- the film looks great. They should get plenty of work by placing the film on their respective demo reels. Unfortunately, as a fully realized work, the material is woefully lacking. At least the gay-themed "Tongues ... Read More
Rating: - ISAAC JULIEN SHINES THROUGH IN SUPERB FILMAKING
THIS FILM IS NOT A PORTRAYL OF LANGSTON HUGHES, IT REACHES TO ACHEIVE A COMMUNICATION BEYOND A SOUL INDIVIDUAL. IT CELEBRATES THE HARDSHIPS OF BEING BLACK, AND HOMOSEXUAL AS WELL. THIS FILM TRUELY ILLUSTRATES ONE MAN'S JOURNEY, BUT ALSO CONNECTS INTO THE LIVES OF OTHER GAY AND LESBIAN PEOPLE WITH THEIR OWN SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS. THIS FILMS CELEBRATES THE JOYFUL LIFESTYLE WHICH COMES ONLY WHEN ONE TRUELY FINDS THEMSELVES AND IS COMFORTABLE EXPRESSING A TRUE MEANING OF LOVE. ISAAC IS A WONDERFUL AND WARM ARTIST. THANKS FOR THE GREAT TIIME AT ArtPace! HOPE THINGS ARE WELL. JK-23YRS OLD
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