Screening To Sleep with Anger
The Return of the Myths: 1977-
To Sleep with Anger’s
1) startling flirtation with magic realism in an identifiably middle-class setting signaled a
fresh departure for a filmmaker hitherto associated with brusquely naturalistic—if also
gorgeously poetic—portraits of working-class African American families.
2) Burnett had first come to attention with his 1977 UCLA thesis film, Killer of Sheep,
a stark, black-and-white drama set in LA’s impoverished Watts neighborhood,
3) in which the eponymous character (played with agonizing vulnerability by Henry G.
Sanders)
4) is a soul-deadened abattoir employee, drained of his joie de vivreby his social and
economic surroundings.
5) These surroundings were intimately familiar to Burnett, who as a small child in 1947
moved north with his family from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Watts, where he grew up.
6) The Chicago Tribune’s Dave Kehr, branded To Sleep with Anger “the first great film to
come our way in quite a while.”
7) And yet the film’s release was botched by its distributor, the Samuel Goldwyn Company,
which opened it on a mere handful of screens and marketed it as an art-house curiosity
rather than as a film that would have much wider appeal, particularly for black audiences.
8) Consequently, it endured a fate similar to that of other unorthodox yet hardly impenetrable
works by independent black filmmakers of the period, such as Dash’s Daughters of the
Dust, Chameleon Street (Wendell B. Harris Jr., 1989), and Sidewalk Stories (Charles
Lane, 1989): high critical praise, box-office oblivion, and, for decades, a dismayingly low
profile.
9)Following To Sleep with Anger, Burnett changed tack with the intriguing psychological
cop drama The Glass Shield (1994) before shifting mostly to short documentaries and
television films—
10)and frustratingly (for this major fan) uncompleted or underfunded projects. Burnett has
spoken often of the difficulty he has found in securing funding for his type of
filmmaking: introspective, warm, lived-in, and perennially out of step with prevailing
commercial trends in black cinema and beyond.
11)He has been handsomely garlanded by myriad institutions—including receiving, in 2017
(alongside the likes of Agnès Varda), that classic backhanded compliment, the honorary Academy
Award—and rightly hailed as a hero by generations of emerging filmmakers.
12) The influence of his nuanced family portraits can be seen in films such as Kasi Lemmons’s
majestic southern gothic Eve’s Bayou (1997) and Spike Lee’s Crooklyn (1994)—
13) which was shot by Arthur Jafa, whose debut credit was as first assistant cameraman on
My Brother’s Wedding—
14) as well as in the work of Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere, 2012), Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale
Station, 2013), and Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk, 2018).
15) Though one is entitled to lament the might-have-beens of Burnett’s career—and the hurdles that
have played a role in that scarcity—
16) it is equally salient to laud the body of work that he has created,
of which To Sleep with Anger is a characteristically quiet, beautifully calibrated jewel.
- Ashley Clark, "To Sleep With Anger: You Never Know What's in the Heart," Criterion Collection
Essay:
Quiz:
Return of the Myths
American Independent Cinema
In To Sleep with Anger (1990) this scene shows a couple dancing at an old-fashioned Fish Fry party. The friends and neighbors gather for southern food, beautiful blues music and dancing to reacquaint themselves. They have fun while in the background there are problems and tension going on in the family but those are forgotten momentarily.
Similarly In Gus Van Sant’s Mala Noche (1986) there is a small dinner party to get to know reach out in friendship to three migrant workers. While there is not a lot of music in the film, in this scene there is beautiful guitar and Spanish vocal music as people dance and getting to know each other. It’s a happy moment of meeting friends although there are some issues in the background of the uncertainty of the immigrant’s situation and an unrequited love.
Both directors show living in marginalized communities. They realistically and empathetically take us into the lives of these characters on a deep level. Although To Sleep with Anger is part of the American Independent Cinema, I found that his other film Killer of Sheep (1977) was a better example.
(Scene from Killer of Sheep a brief interlude of happiness)
Some characteristics of American Independent Cinema are styles from Neorealism with the use of on location shooting, non-professional actors and it’s view into the unglamorous tough life of people struggling. The films also were created with minimal budgets, it’s amazing some could be made. Both Killer of Sheep and another American Independent Filmmaker Gus Van Sant's film Mala Noche hold these characteristics.
Both were made on minimal budgets in Black and White. Killer of Sheep was made on a budget of $10,000. Mala Noche was made for $20,000. Gus Van Sant describes in a Criterion Channel interview that he thought that he could do well shooting this in Black and White but also the reality is that it was cheaper and if they didn’t like the color of a room or the props, they wouldn’t have to paint the room or spend money on making the color items of the film altered to make the film work.
Both films take us into marginalized communities that are seldom seen in film. The characters in Killer of Sheep are working but in poverty with little chance of other opportunities. In Mala Noche we see the hustling poor illegal migrants getting by day by day. Both these films show people doing undesirable jobs that no one wants to do. They area also soul crushing jobs. In Mala Noche towards the end, there characters have changed and are not the playful youth of the earlier film. They are burned out from their hustling life. It brings to mind the angst and fear we see in The Bicycle Thief (1948) of the father doing what he can on a day to day basis for his family to survive.
Both directors were also pioneers in representation in film. Charles Burnett as a leading figure in the L.A. Rebellion which showcased African-American representation in film. Gus Van Sant was a leader in the development New Queer Cinema.
Grade 3/3
Denah Johnston , Dec 19 at 7:33pm
Responses to my essay:
Hi, Ida!
As I was watching the film, this segment really struck me and I even considered analyzing it. Am glad you took this part. Indeed, as you mentioned, "The friends and neighbors gather for southern food, beautiful blues music and dancing to reacquaint themselves." This is I believe what many reunions are made of, be it a reunion among friends or classmates from as long ago as elementary days or high school. There is that push to "reacquaint" with people from your past. Now here comes the part in your analysis that got me: "They have fun while in the background there are problems and tension going on in the family - " The inter-cut of scenes in different corners of the house, both the interior and exterior are laden with erratic scenes - and all the emotions covered (gladness, anger, playfulness, sadness) among the guests and family is a bravura sample of seamless editing.
Response from Robert Keitel:
Hi Ida
I look into Charles Burnett and learned more about him.
Charles Burnett is rooted in the L. A. Rebellion at UCLA's film school which became known as the "Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers." (http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Academy-Awards-Crime-Films/African-American-Cinema-THE-L-A-REBELLION.html (Links to an external site.)). In the 1970’s affirmative action programs brought more diverse groups to UCLA including students from Africa, African Americans head South Americans. Charles Barnett earlier studies were engineering at the Community College level. He transferred to UCLA and graduated with a creative writing degree in 1969. He achieved his MFA in cinema in 1977.
The UCLA Library, Film and Television Archive states:
In 1988, Burnett was awarded the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur (“genius grant”) Fellowship and shortly thereafter Burnett became the first African American recipient of the National Society of Film Critics’ best screenplay award, for To Sleep with Anger (1990). (https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/la-rebellion/charles-burnett (Links to an external site.))
While Burnett has received extensive honors as a writer/director, he has not achieved the financial success of other black directors as they emerged into the Black Cinema genre.
My Response:
Hi Robert, thanks for the resource http://www.filmreference.com/ (Links to an external site.)
was not familiar with it - will use it now!
Collapse SubdiscussionRobert Keitel
Hi Ida
I look into Charles Burnett and learned more about him.
Charles Burnett is rooted in the L. A. Rebellion at UCLA's film school which became known as the "Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers." (http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Academy-Awards-Crime-Films/African-American-Cinema-THE-L-A-REBELLION.html (Links to an external site.)). In the 1970’s affirmative action programs brought more diverse groups to UCLA including students from Africa, African Americans head South Americans. Charles Barnett earlier studies were engineering at the Community College level. He transferred to UCLA and graduated with a creative writing degree in 1969. He achieved his MFA in cinema in 1977.
The UCLA Library, Film and Television Archive states:
In 1988, Burnett was awarded the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur (“genius grant”) Fellowship and shortly thereafter Burnett became the first African American recipient of the National Society of Film Critics’ best screenplay award, for To Sleep with Anger (1990). (https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/la-rebellion/charles-burnett (Links to an external site.))
While Burnett has received extensive honors as a writer/director, he has not achieved the financial success of other black directors as they emerged into the Black Cinema genre.
http://www.filmreference.com/ was a good resource.
Hi Ida, I like how you mentioned that many of these movies focus on marginalized communities that are rarely seen in film (such as the African-American or LGBT community). As you also noted, they were often made with minimal budgets and used non-professional actors. In Hollywood, it has historically been very difficult for black directors and actors to find support. Charles Burnett previously discussed how hard it is for them to secure finances, which is why filmmakers of color often have to turn to independent cinema. In independent cinema, they have more freedom to portray issues that pertain to their communities, and to use non-professional actors of the correct background. These qualities give these films a sense of authenticity that mainstream films often lack.
Don's Essay:
Besides being a film that shows the rift and agony and eventually reconciliation of a Southern Los Angeles black family on the verge of falling apart, To Sleep With Anger (1990) is also a film which successfully incorporates folkloric elements in its plot. Charles Burnett’s masterful and crafty storytelling is peppered with magic realism that we are taken in for an almost surreal discovery of how a long gone family friend, Harry (Danny Glover) could cause havoc in a household who now welcomes him with open arms. His uncanny presence though pricks the family in a slow dance.
The irritating trumpet music at the start of the opening scenes ushers us in in a story that may have started in the wrong foot. The petulant Babe Brother (Richard Brooks) is being insinuated as a lax and spoiler father to his son and his absence is a contention that get his father’s ire. Samuel resents his older brother Junior (Carl Lumbly), accusing him as the father’s favorite. Samuel finds a confidant in Harry, who eventually lures him to his irresponsible ways. The aural elements in the movie plays a big part, and in that scene at the river where the haunting ominous musical score plays, Samuel seems to hear the voice of his son calling him after finding a dead bird. He stops on his tracks and immediately heads back to his family.
Another surreal moment is the vision at the train tracks where Harry convinces his good friend Gideon (Paul Butler) of hearing pounding sounds from a group of workers. The magic realism also is manifest in Phil Alden Robinson’s baseball fantasy drama Field of Dreams (1989), like when Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) disappears in the corn fields after telling Ray Kinsella that “If you build it, he will come” – referencing a moment where Ray is soon about to meet his father John in the diamond field.
Repetitive motifs always resurrect in different scenes, like for example the presence of a switchblade and a knife which might look harmless at first. The switchblade in To Sleep With Anger, the same as that of the bread knife in Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon, have foreboding manifestations – like, who’s going to get the weapon’s ire towards the end? In the former, the switchblade appears in ordinary scenes and in "reveal" scenes where some object is broken. In Meshes, it is a recurring presence in a recurring dream.
My response to a student:
Hello Don,
I liked your choice of clips and also the mention of the "irritating trumpet music." I didn't think about it before, but it really this cacophonous music is for the underlying chaos in the family relationships and intrusive visitor.
The storytelling with the myths and superstitions of Southern African-American culture was fascinating to me. Charles Burnett takes us deep into culture not often seen in film. Being Mexican, there are a lot of similar types of superstitions in my culture and magic realism is used in Mexican film and literature. It was interesting for me to see it in another culture.
Name the device that combines the mobility of the handheld camera with the smoothness of the old Mitchell studio camera mounted on a dolly (or track).
Name the 1978 Claudia Weill film about a photographer who supports herself by shooting baby pictures and Bar Mitzvahs. It is considered an important landmark for independent female directed films.
Name Steven Spielberg’s first feature film.
Name the intellectual and theoretical movement that analyzes a world without a definitive center and dates from the 1970s. Many of the films marked by this movement build on references to popular culture, and many of them set out to be free of any ultimate truth or final synthesis (e.g. Blade Runner).
Name the documentary-like feminist film, directed by Lizzie Borden, features a rare acting appearance by Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow.
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