Screening Log
This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.
February 2007 activity
Total Log Entries: 42
- Adam (11)
- Andrew (0)
- Chet (0)
- Chiranjit (1)
- David (0)
- Eva (0)
- Evan (0)
- Ian (0)
- Jenny (3)
- Katherine (0)
- Leo (2)
- Megan (0)
- Rumsey (8)
- Teddy (0)
- Thomas (0)
- Timothy (0)
- Victoria (0)
Total Comments: 29
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (0)
- Secretary (0)
- Imitation of Life (1)
- Froken Julie (0)
- Volver (0)
- Taxi Driver (0)
- The Blob (0)
- The Young Ones (0)
- Intimate Stories (0)
- Autumn Marathon (0)
- The Prince of Egypt (0)
- Long Day’s Journey Into Night (0)
- Flags of our Fathers (1)
- When Harry Met Sally… (2)
- Dark City (3)
- The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (0)
- Day for Night (0)
- Batman Returns (1)
- The Science of Sleep (0)
- Angels In America (1)
- Somersault (0)
- Inland Empire (4)
- Memories of Murder (4)
- The Ladykillers (2)
- He liu (0)
- Blood of Jesus (0)
- Who’s Camus Anyway? (0)
- Man of Ashes (0)
- Chinatown (0)
- The Scarlet Empress (3)
- Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (2)
- This Film is Not Yet Rated (0)
- Letters from Iwo Jima (0)
- Because I Said So (0)
- Decasia (0)
- Notes on a Scandal (0)
- Dreams (2)
- I Am David (1)
- Memory of a Killer (0)
- Blood of Jesus (0)
- Hunger (0)
- The Holy Mountain (2)
Full Archive
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Blood of Jesus / from Movies of Color / USA / 1941
I’ve seen this one a few times over the last year. A large part of the pleasure of watching this example of early Black Independent Cinema lies in its caricature-like performances, the overbearing use of iconography and the general style of Black life in mid-twentieth century America. Essentially, an “unbeliever” accidentally shoots his Baptist wife, who dies and goes to the infamous crossroads, where she must choose between a righteous path and the path led by Satan himself. You have to take the technical handling of the allegory lightly in order to enjoy it (though, who can gauge anyone’s potential source of pleasure?). The wonderful singing of hymns, the righteous banter of church folk and the nightclub scenes always make it wothwhile for me.
I’m not sure if the director, Spencer Williams, meant to illustrate how the body of a black woman (or women, in general, for that matter) has been a focal point of religious contention and debate for centuries, but his film is certainly an example of the practice.
by Marlin Tyree | Source: Wellspring DVD
03 Feb 2007 11:23 AM | Submit Comment