Word: hudlins
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Black artists have in the past often rejected America. Some, like novelist Richard Wright, turned to communism others emigrated. Even today, many American Black artists look to Europe for inspiration and Hudlin says. Black films in particular owe much to Ingmar Bergman and other European filmmakers Hudlin makes Black films that are in tune with the American tradition. His favorite directors are Howard, Hawks and John Ford. In his own work, he plans to explore what he calls "Afro Americana "that is, the part of American culture which is Black...
...suspense is not resolved, though; we never learn what happens to Rivers in this movie. For all we know, he still could be sitting in the same Yale dormitory room in which he told his story to Hudlin's interviewer seven years ago. This is not the filmmaker's fault, for when he made the film he, too, did not know what would become of his extraordinary classmate who bureaucratically didn't exist. But the incompleteness of River's saga brings to our attention the important point that no matter what Center Screen's press releases or posters say, this...
This film works beautifully because Hudlin is able to study all this in a relatively short time, without destroying the movie's unity. We leave the theater having seen a cogent, succinct work--not merely a series of important images and scenes. The simplicity of the production, doubtless due to both Hudlin's restraint and a low budget, adds to its strength...
...Hudlin's second effort, Street Corner Stories (1977), a portrait of Black street corner society and a film that has received significant international attention, holds together less well than Black at Yale. It is an example of blues cinema, a visual answer to blues music, which draws the viewer into its story; because of its new approach it is worth seeing. But this documentation of a series of conversations at a street corner store between working class Blacks lacks cohesiveness. The viewer believes what he is seeing is important but is frustrated by what seems to be a lack...
This film is touted because of Hudlin's "un-compromising documentation of Black American speech," indeed an important part of the movie. Nonetheless, Street Corner Stories is an excruciatingly slow movie. After being enraptured by Black at Yale, the viewer may want to stay to see more of this very talented filmmaker's work. He may get much from this film, but only if he is somewhat indulgent...