Looking for Langston

Author

Isaac Julien

Call Number

• DVD DRAMA (CEN)

Languages

In English, with optional subtitles for the hearing impaired.

Performers

Ben Ellison, Matthew Baidoo, Akim Mogaji, John Wilson, Dencil Williams, Guy Burgess, James Dublin.

Publication Information

[Culver City, CA] : Strand Releasing Home Video, [2007]

Physical Description

1 videodisc (60 minutes) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in.

Audience

Unrated: This film contains adult subject material.

Summary

Award-winning British filmmaker Isaac Julien's LOOKING FOR LANGSTON is both critically acclaimed and controversial. The film is a lyrical and poetic consideration of the life of revered Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. Isaac Julien invokes Hughes as a black gay cultural icon, against an impressionistic, atmospheric setting that parallels a Harlem speakeasy of the 1920s with a 1980s London underground nightclub. Extracts from Hughes poetry are interwoven with the work of cultural figures from the 1920s and beyond, including Essex Humphill, Bruce Nugent, and Robert Mapplethorpe, constructing a lyrical and multilayered narrative. Julien explores the ambiguous sexual subtexts of the period of rich artistic expression, and the enduring cultural significance of the pioneer's work. Shot in sumptuous monochrome, the film combines archival footage with the newly staged set pieces, fantasy sequences, and an imagined love story. The result is a beautiful and ultimately celebratory piece about artistic expression and the nature of desire.

Notes

Title from container.

Originally released as a motion picture in 1989.

Bonus features: Commentary track with director Isaac Julien and director of photography Nina Kellgren ; short film by Isaac Julien "The attendant" ; photo gallery ; other Strand Releasing trailers.