Medicine for Melancholy

source: Medicine for Melancholy

Micah and Jo meet at a party, get drunk, have sex and wake up the following morning with hangovers. She is more than willing to let it end there, to the point of lying about her real name and running away, but Micah has other ideas. After discovering her name and address he tracks her down to the apartment she shares with her white curator boyfriend who is away working in London. Jo reluctantly lets him in and he proceeds to question her about who pays her rent, whether her boyfriend is white, why there are no pictures on the wall as well as questioning her blackness. Although he comes across as somewhat annoying, for the purposes of the plot we are led to believe that Jo is so charmed by his behaviour that she agrees to spend the day with him. Micah spends the time continuing to criticise Jo's awareness of black culture, complaining about the gentrification of the city which parallels the gentrification of black people, questioning Jo's lack of employment and finally berating her for not being involved with a person of colour. For all his blackness Micah is ignorant about why Black History Month is in February. For all his complaints about gentrification he is not part of the campaign to halt it. He complains about Jo's boyfriend being white but it is clear from his MySpace page that his former girlfriend was white. Micah is not impressed with Jo spending her time printing teeshirts to sell but his job cleaning out fish tanks is hardly anything to brag about and his final rant that she should be going out black or Latino men doesn't carry much weight as he doesn't appear to have any black or Latino friends. Heck the party where they meet is thrown by a wealthy white guy who he is clearly friends with. Although Jo seems to be relatively intelligent and confident, she fails to stand up to many of the criticisms levelled at her, or call Micah out on his obvious hypocrisy. So we are left wondering why it is Jo gives Micah such an easy ride. Is it because she shares Micah's rather narrow view of the world? Or that she simply sees no point in making unnecessary waves when their association is just a one day distraction from her real life. How much more satisfying would it have been for her to turn the tables on Micah and get him to open up about his real reason for pursuing her so hard and why he had such a problem with her boyfriend being white. Was it that he'd had his heart broken by a white woman and felt things would be easier with a black partner? Or was he looking to exact some kind of revenge? I stumbled across this film pretty recently. It was categorised as part of the mumblecore genre presumably because it had an obviously small budget and featured then unknown actors and playing characters of a certain age who spend most of the film simply talking to one another. Where it differs from the usual mumblecore offering is that the characters are black and that race along with gentrification are big themes. It's interesting to read the glowing reviews about this film and while part of me agrees with the poster who suggested they were written by people involved in the production, I think it's more likely to be dow to a willingness to overlook the film's obvious flaws because there are sadly so few films featuring hipster black people happily listening to indie music and part of the indie scene.

Unless he's willing to pursue a white woman (and he's totally not), he only has 5 out of every 100 women to choose from in the city. Then he finds a black woman he really desires, and he's torn up she's partnered with a white guy. As for her, although she really likes this bicycle man, and their hot & steamy sex they've had over a couple days, and she seems somewhat unhappy in her present relationship.. she ain't going to be switching lifestyles (remember too, she's unemployed), and moving from a nice, spacious, comfortable condo, into a tiny cramped box of an apartment, along with three bicycles and a fish-tank. So it does not appear she is going to be making any changes, and thus she rises early, and without goodbyes, peddles away as fast as she can. When the chemistry works between actors, and the dialog well written, these kinds of films are a joy to watch... a solid yes for viewing. And as an added bonus, there are several story-lines intertwined throughout the film.. all well done. This is engaging, intelligent, entertaining cinema.

I just watched this first major film of Barry Jenkins, which was very different from his other films, Moonlight (2016) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018). The color tones of this film were muted so it wasn't completely in black-and-white which fit with the overall tenor of the movie which made it interesting. The plot is simple: it chronicles the short romance of Micah (played by Wyatt Cenac) and Jo (played by Tracey Heggins), two Black people in their 20s in San Fransisco, taking place across one day apparently but it seems like 2-3 days. Not only do they both discuss relationship of Black people (7% of San Fransisco) to White people in the city, specifically "hipster" people, but differences in class. Micah works to install aquariums while Jo has no job but only makes shirts with female artists emblazoned on them, depending on her White boyfriend, a curator in London, whom is always distant. There are some other important elements of this film. For one there is very little dialogue and Jenkins attempts to make it look like you are right there with the actors. The colors seem to raise and deepen when Micah and Jo are happy, ending with full color at the end. According to the director certain scenes in the film have more color when characters are not thinking about housing or race issues, which is interesting. In some way both characters are relatively intellectual, going to varying museums, one for MLK and another for Black art. I also liked the elements that look dated now such as the cell phones of a certain type and Micah literally searching for Jo on Myspace, when people would now just search on Facebook for instance. Some elements of the film could seem out of place, like the 5-10 minute scene of a community meeting about gentrification in San Francisco but it completely fits and is important to have in the film. In a profound way, the film is melancholy but that is the point. Jo is pulled to the White world by her boyfriend, museums, and their curators but then to the Black world by her fling with Micah. It reminds me a bit of the division of Starr between the White and Black world in The Hate U Give, which came out last year. Micah and Jo were both strong-willed characters, each in their own way. It is a sweet and intimate with Micah as pushy as she thinks that the division between the White and Black world is not as hard and fast as Micah makes it. This is also interesting because Jenkins is somewhat at the top the Hollyweird heap now but wasn't then. This film really throws you into the culture of San Francisco more than Sorry to Bother You does for Oakland I'd argue. This film also covers the idea of identity with Micah seeing himself as Black more than a man while Jo doesn't want to be so limiting, refusing to do the same, in a sense assimilating into White culture you could say. With that I'm ending this review by saying this film is powerful and unlike other films I have seen, fully deserving of a rating of 10 out of 10.

At first I was like oh, this is a surrogate romcom with black people substituted, like really white black people, whitened that is, that's cool, casue I don't know much about black culture, I'm Latin and really whitened as I don't know much about Mexican culture lol.... But, as it turned out, I didn't really understand too much the attraction, how they came together or why they shared a stint of time but at the end I really really felt like I understood why they split and went back to the white folk paradigm. I thought the black guy was onto something, the undercurrent of the film kept rearing its ugly head against the background of people white or black or whatever speaking on social civic issues esp. gentrification and I started to realize that the black guy was onto something whilst the black girl, lets face it was in deep denial, yet she began to let go as we the audience began to realize that the black guy was really really really onto something. I really think the dude that did this, is an excellent writer, great script, I love his directing and I can't wait to see his Baldwin adaptation! I can't wait... This felt a lot as if Baldwin would write a romcom about black people and a script it would be something like this but this didn't have people in jail or jumping off bridges, it was more unfolding the horror of today's gross clandestine hypocritical racist and everything else that is wrong with contemporary society.

two people wake up after a night together and find they have no real idea who the other person is (they don't even know their name). Over time they find something between them. Really good really real character study made me want to slap the director across the face with his camera for insisting on making it look like an independent film. This is one of films that annoys the heck out of me because the director tries to do more than just tell the simple story, rather he tries to make the film seem hip and happening by giving it a typical "inde" feel. The inde-feel was the reason I didn't watch this on IFC in Theaters when I had the chance, but last night as I flailed about trying to find something good to watch I put in the DVD in desperation and found I liked the film but hated the feel. That said its a really good film, worth giving a shot.

I love this movie because I used to live in the City and it warms my heart to see it again. I hate this movie because the actors have zero chemistry. Wyatt Cynac, while charming as all hell on The Daily Show, comes off like an ignorant douche-bag and the female lead has all the personality of a dead fish. I actually found myself annoyed with the film by the end. Also, as Wyatt's character points out, the SFC is a beautiful city with a wealth of potential details. His character lives in the Tenderloin District which can be really colorful to say the least. Yet the director kind of glossed over that. The film ultimately seemed to be about hipster a-holes who, lets be honest, have to be the least interesting people on the planet. I had high hopes for this film but walked away very disappointed.

I just watched this film on NetFlix. It was recommended by some critics online who saw the film awhile back and saying that it was a beautiful film. Riding high of the Oscar win, this film by Barry Jenkins was supposedly an inspiration which lead to the creation of Moonlight. I am always looking for undiscovered gems which I may not have seen before, to enjoy on days I have off of work. I am sorry to say, but maybe this film is just "too hip" for me. I have tried, and failed to what this film 3 times. Each time falling asleep while attempting to stay awake. The pale color pallet, the slow pace, the awkward dialog, make for a mix of great boredom. I am glad others found joy in this film, but I have found much better films online of the same nature.

Twenty-four hours in the tentative relationship of two young San Franciscans also dealing with the conundrum of being a minority in a rapidly gentrifying city. Barry Jenkins has described the film's two main characters as "playing out a debate back and forth about identity politics". Each of the two main characters embodies an ideology. Jenkins saw the character of Micah as a man who was always building barriers, whereas Jo thinks that race is a limiter. Accusing Jo of assimilation, Micah strives to reclaim his essential "blackness" as Jo contrastingly claims Micah has a "hang up" about his race and strives to overcome her own. Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling the actors "effortlessly engaging" and the direction "assured"; he also noted the film was "beautifully photographed". Ebert is right on all counts. The acting is superb, very natural, and really shows off Wyatt Cenac as more than a comedian. The direction is strong, and the cinematography is gorgeous, some of the best you will find anywhere, whether in a big budget film or indie. The discussion of race is great. As a white man, maybe I can't see the issue from the point of view of Micah, Jo or Barry Jenkins. But I love that there's this divide of ideas. Micah is indignant, as he should be, about being a minority. But Jo prefers to look forward. Indeed, how does one define themselves? I don't think of myself as "white", and sometimes not even as a "man", but do these things define me whether or not I choose to accept them?

First, a comment to the two reviewers who found this film 'slow,' etc; The pace of films - for MOST of the 20th century were at a much slower pace. It lets the director get to know the characters, etc. In today's film market - in which a HUGE part of the pie is overseas sales/distribution - dialogue doesn't translate, but, ACTIONS do. That's one of the reasons why most films of the past decade or so, have interchangeable plots, characters - the story is second to the action. Saying that, let me talk about MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY. I came in a few minutes after it had begun. I'd never seen, nor heard of it (my friend had left the TV on, and was actually watching something prior - FLAWLESS, with R. DeNiro. I came in when Micah was in a cab bringing the lost wallet he'd found back to it's owner, Jo (I know that they'd had casual sex just before this, and didn't know each other). I got caught up in the dialogue. It was slow. It as natural, as to how two people meet (awkwardly) at inopportune times. I quickly picked up on the ambivalence Jo' was having, and Micah, just trying (at first) to get to know Jo a bit. The film follows them throughout that day - and that night, as the two start to reveal more of themselves. A third important cast member, who's very important, is the sprawling city of San Francisco. I love the cinematography done on this film. It's a loving portrayal of San Francisco. The pair walk through streets, and neighbourhoods, that are far from the shiny images tourists see, or think of, when they hear the city's name. As for the performances of both the two (verbal) actors, I enjoyed their charisma, and I hope to see more from them in the future. MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY is not for people who are impatient, or 'don't get' plots. But, for those who enjoy spending an afternoon, and just letting a film wash over you, this one's definitely one to watch.