Customer Reviews

Looking for Langston [VHS]

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In mainstream gay cinema, the images of the black gay man is somewhat controversial and contrived. Often, he is portrayed as the overly effete stereotype. For the sake of the dollar and to appeal to cross-cultural fetishistic interest to reach a wider audience, he is often shown preferring and seeking out the attentions of white gay men. Writer-director Isaac Julien's LOOKING FOR LANGSTON represents a departure from the status quo of the image of black gay men while also attempting to reclaim the black gay identity and history that only now is beginning to be widely acknowledged by the general black community.

LOOKING FOR LANGSTON can best be describe as impressionistic film-making. The film does not really follow any type of linear storytelling that the average movie viewer will expect. But, far from being intimidating, the film is viewable and can be enjoyed beyond the prejudices of the art house crowd. More, it is touted as being a meditation on the African-American poet Langston Hughes who was understandably a closeted gay man
who preferred emotionally, intellectually, and other the company of other black men, especially those of a handsome and dark complexion, in his love life and work. And, Julien is perfectly aware of this as his research indicates as it has already been documented that Hughes found white men of little sexual interest in life and work. Hughes is also employed as a kind of metaphor in the film to demonstrate the fact that black gay men are able to express love and desire for one another. This challenges the more widespread and universally popular prejudices and stereotyped images already mentioned.

The film is presented in black and white. It opens with a funeral scene and a radio memorial broadcast that aired upon the news that Langston Hughes had died 1967. From here, it subways into a 1920's Harlem speakeasy where is found mostly black gay men of various hues and a very few white men. Interspersed and overvoicing much of the film, is old footage of Harlem of the 20's, a multilayered narrative with the poetry of Richard Bruce Nugent-- a contemporary of Hughes--, the poetry of Essex Hemphill, and images of Hughes reading his poetry during a television program. The film presents a few racialized and exploitative images of black men from the late artist Robert Mapplethorpe. These images are meant to show how black male sexuality has been largely represented by western culture in general, black men being reduced to their sexual appendages. These images are disagreeable but understandable when it is remembered that a number of whites, white gay men especially, who visited Harlem in the 20's did so out of a sense of exotic tourism, a sense that anything goes among the Harlemites. Hughes would rectify this misperception in the first of his two autobiographies, The Big Sea, by stating rather pointedly that these "tourist" were not as loved and welcomed by most Harlemites as they believed themselves to be. Rather, they were only tolerated out of no other choice. More, it must be remembered that black gay sexually was "sometimes" tolerated by the larger black community in Harlem up to a point.

There is a brief scene in the film showing a white man paying for the clandestine services of a black man. The image represents the exploitation that took place. Presented also are modern day 1980's images to draw a parallel between 20's Harlem and present day. Interestingly enough, Julien chooses to show the brief image of a black and white man kissing in modern day accompanied by an Essex Hemphill overvoice wanting "the choice" to love a partner of a different race (i.e. white) as opposed to, I assume, the blanket stereotyped images always being presented where a black man never desires another black man.

The consistent and primary focus of the film is the relationship between its two black male leads, Ben Ellison (as Langston Hughes) and Mathew Baidoo (as Beauty). With the exception of one brief moment, no dialogue is ever spoken between the two. What is presented are dream sequences and a lot of furtive glances between the two. Beauty (Mathew Baidoo) is desired by a man who bears a healthy resemblance to a young Langston Hughes, Ben Ellison, amongst the patrons of a Harlem speakeasy. Beauty notices the attention he is getting from this Hughes and returns a sign of his own interest by way of a welcoming glance. Unfortunately, Beauty is seated with a jealous white slummer for the evening who has apparently bought his services. What is interesting about the slummer from downtown is that Julien turns the tables by making the white man a nelly stereotype, an image usually given to the black gay man in a film. Hughes is forced to only have possession of Beauty in his dreams. There the viewer sees images of the two black males lovingly entwined with one another on a bed. Also, in another dream sequence, Hughes approaches Beauty in a field but is rejected by him, a metaphor for his current situation in the speakeasy. In the end, the look-a-like accepts that he will not have Beauty at that moment, encounters another black man and leaves the speakeasy with him.

LOOKING FOR LANGSTON is a visual feast for the eyes. But its primary claim to fame will be the tresties it offers on black gay male desire. Isaac Julien, along with Essex Hemphill in TONGUES UNTIED, was one of the first to challenge the misperception that black gay men cannot desire and love one another. Today, in his footsteps, other black gay men in film are taking control of their own image and identity through writing and directing.

If one is able to purchase this dvd, I would also recommend the purchase of the Rodney Evans film/dvd BROTHER TO BROTHER about Hughes comptemporary Richard Bruce Nugent. BROTHER TO BROTHER is a great companion piece to LOOKING FOR LANGSTON. The two films offer well defined and different perspectives on black gay desire, but, both celebrate black gay identity and the men who contributed to the Harlem Renaissance.

A minor note. This is a Strand Releasing dvd which is not of the same integrity and quality as its U.K. counterpart whose entire packaging keeps with the theme of "black on black" gay love along side a host wonderful extras. Those able to do so should purchase the British version from U.K. Amazon. More, the Strand Releasing dvd includes the short Isaac Julien film call The Attendant. The film is completely out of place on this dvd. Because of The Attendant's subject matter, a better place for it would have been the dvd Young Soul Rebels. Strand Releasing obviously put the short film on the Looking for Langston dvd for pruient interest. As it stands, The Attendant is an insult to the prevailing theme of Looking for Langston.

Julien seeks to mine the archive of the Harlem Renaissance for what has been lost or forgotten, namely the role of gay black men--writers, visual artists, and singers--in official history. More than this, however, this film moves backward and forward in time, an homage to black gay men today and the dangers they face and have faced in U.S. history. The final coup of the film is that it is not about Langston Hughes but rather uses Hughes as an icon for the ineffability of identity itself--was Hughes gay or straight? Julien refuses to answer the question, refuses spectacle and surveillance as means of "spotting" identity. Julien's filmic language is also beautiful and subversive and he alters written texts, such as Bruce Nugent's Smoke, Lilies, and Jade (Nugent is now known as the first "out" African American writer) to fit his own political project. I have written an article on this film, 35 pages, forthcoming from VU University Press, Amsterdam, 2002, copyrighted, and think most reviews of the film are idiotic or simply do not understand the beauty and complexity of this very alternative film.

THIS FILM IS NOT A PORTRAYL OF LANGSTON HUGHES, IT REACHES TO ACHEIVE A COMMUNICATION BEYOND A SOUL INDIVIDUAL. IT CELEBRATES THE HARDSHIPS OF BEING BLACK, AND HOMOSEXUAL AS WELL. THIS FILM TRUELY ILLUSTRATES ONE MAN'S JOURNEY, BUT ALSO CONNECTS INTO THE LIVES OF OTHER GAY AND LESBIAN PEOPLE WITH THEIR OWN SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS. THIS FILMS CELEBRATES THE JOYFUL LIFESTYLE WHICH COMES ONLY WHEN ONE TRUELY FINDS THEMSELVES AND IS COMFORTABLE EXPRESSING A TRUE MEANING OF LOVE. ISAAC IS A WONDERFUL AND WARM ARTIST. THANKS FOR THE GREAT TIIME AT ArtPace! HOPE THINGS ARE WELL. JK-23YRS OLD

In mainstream gay cinema, the images of the black gay man is somewhat controversial and contrived. Often, he is portrayed as the overly effete stereotype. For the sake of the dollar and to appeal to cross-cultural fetishistic interest to reach a wider audience, he is often shown preferring and seeking out the attentions of white gay men. Writer-director Isaac Julien's LOOKING FOR LANGSTON represents a departure from the status quo of the image of black gay men while also attempting to reclaim the black gay identity and history that only now is beginning to be widely acknowledged by the general black community.

LOOKING FOR LANGSTON can best be describe as impressionistic film-making. The film does not really follow any type of linear storytelling that the average movie viewer will expect. But, far from being intimidating, the film is viewable and can be enjoyed beyond the prejudices of the art house crowd. More, it is touted as being a meditation on the African-American poet Langston Hughes who was understandably a closeted gay man
who preferred emotionally, intellectually, and other the company of other black men, especially those of a handsome and dark complexion, in his love life and work. It has already been documented that Hughes found white men of little sexual interest in life and work. Hughes is also employed as a kind of metaphor in the film to demonstrate the fact that black gay men are able to express love and desire for one another. This challenges the more widespread and universally popular prejudices and stereotyped images already mentioned.

The film is presented in black and white. It opens with a funeral scene and a radio memorial broadcast that aired upon the news that Langston Hughes had died 1967. From here, it subways into a 1920's Harlem speakeasy where is found mostly black gay men of various hues and a very few white men. Interspersed and overvoicing much of the film, is old footage of Harlem of the 20's, a multilayered narrative with the poetry of Richard Bruce Nugent-- a contemporary of Hughes--, the poetry of Essex Hemphill, and images of Hughes reading his poetry during a television program. The film presents a few racialized and exploitative images of black men from the late artist Robert Mapplethorpe. These images are disagreeable but understandable when it is remembered that a number of whites, white gay men especially, who visited Harlem in the 20's did so out of a sense of exotic tourism, a sense that anything goes among the Harlemites. Hughes would rectify this misperception in the first of his two autobiographies by stating rather pointedly that these "tourist" were not as loved and welcomed by most Harlemites as they believed themselves to be. Rather, they were only tolerated out of no other choice. There is a brief scene in the film showing a white man paying for the clandestine services of a black man. Presented also are modern day 1980's images to draw a parallel between 20's Harlem and present day. Interestingly enough, Julien chooses to show the brief image of a black and white man kissing in modern day accompanied by an Essex Hemphill overvoice wanting "the choice" to love a partner of a different race (i.e. white) as opposed to, I assume, the blanket stereotyped images always being presented where a black man never desires another black man.

The consistent and primary focus of the film is the relationship between its two black male leads, Ben Ellison and Mathew Baidoo. With the exception of one brief moment, no dialogue is ever spoken between the two. What is presented are dream sequences and a lot of furtive glances between the two. Beauty (Mathew Baidoo) is desired by a man who bears a healthy resemblance to a young Langston Hughes, Ben Ellison, amongst the patrons of a Harlem speakeasy. Beauty notices the attention he is getting from this Hughes look-a-like and returns a sign of his own interest by way of a welcoming glance. Unfortunately, Beauty is seated with a jealous white slummer for the evening who has apparently bought his services. What is interesting about the slummer from downtown is that Julien turns the tables by making the white man a nelly stereotype, an image usually given to the black gay man in a film. The Hughes look-a-like is forced to only have possession of Beauty in his dreams. There the viewer sees images of the two black males lovingly entwined with one another on a bed. Also, in another dream sequence, the Hughes look-a-like approaches Beauty in a field but is rejected by him, a metaphor for his current situation in the speakeasy. In the end, the look-a-like accepts that he will not have Beauty at that moment, encounters another black man, dark-skinned, and leaves the speakeasy with him.

LOOKING FOR LANGSTON is a visual feast for the eyes. But its primary claim to fame will be the tresties it offers on black gay male desire. Isaac Julien, along with Essex Hemphill in TONGUES UNTIED, was one of the first to challenge the misperception that black gay men cannot desire and love one another. Today, in his footsteps, other black gay men in film are taking control of their own image and identity through writing and directing.

If one is able to purchase this video/dvd, I would also recommend the purchase of the Rodney Evans film/dvd BROTHER TO BROTHER about Hughes comptemporary Richard Bruce Nugent. BROTHER TO BROTHER is a great companion piece to LOOKING FOR LANGSTON. The two films offer well defined and different perspectives on black gay desire, but, both celebrate black gay identity and the men who contributed to the Harlem Renaissance.

I first saw this film and have been entranced by it ever since- i can't explain it- it was like the first time I ever swam. The film is made so beautifully- it worships the contibution the poet Langston Hughes made on this earth- and also lends itself to celebrating the strength that other gay men- and, hell, anyone on the outer- should feel and be thankful for. Triumph of belief and passion over misguided energy and vanity. This film worships risk-takers, underdogs and worships the gentle strength in the human male (so rarely explored) and seems to celebrate our connection to nature in a very vivid and timless way. As a confused aggressive gay man at 18 year old- i saw this film and felt like there was someone else on this earth who spoke my langauge and said- hey you! you're not alone- do what you want to do so passionately and be proud of what it is that you have to say, you have a right to be here. So feel free and be yourself- the world needs to hear what it is you feel. God bless the man that made this film- it tickles my soul. Thanks to my sweet Ma - thanks to her i am finally going to own this gem after 10 years of searching!!!!!

British director Isaac Julien's "Looking for Langston" visually beautiful montage in black and white is labeled "A Mediation on Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance"-- "it was a time when the black artist was in vogue"-- but it is much more than that: It is a statement about homoerotic desire. (Notice the effeminate white tuxedoed man complete with a curl on his forehead as opposed to the strikingly handsome masculine black men.) It is also a statement about two deeply controversial subjects: homophobia in African American culture (homosexulity is a sin against the race") and racism in the white world. The director uses images from Robert Mapplethorpe's BLACK BOOK that are considered by many to be racist as well as snatches from the only poem that Hughes ever wrote I believe that is overtly homosexual: "I loved my friend/He went away from me." While Mapplethorpe may have been a racist, I am not convinced that his book of photographs of black men is proof of that. For example, there are far more photographs of portraits of African American men than there are of naked men with an emphasis on their genitalia.

The photography in this film is stunning. In addition to that of Mapplethorpe, there are stills from Carl Van Vechten, Van Der Zee and Roy DeCarava and moving images, at least one of which appears to be a re-creation of a photograph by George Platt Lynes. Toni Morrison reads from James Baldwin and footage is included of Langston Hughes reading. There is also poetry by Bruce Nugent (The incredibly beautiful and moving line "He was searching for black poppies from "Smoke, Lilies and Jade") and Essex Hemphill who prophetically warns us that we may die from sex from a "pin-sized hole in a condom."

I saw this film years ago at a gay film festival and have viewed it many times since. It really is a thing of beauty.

Simply an excellent documentary. Whether one likes Langston's poetry or is interested in the Harlem Renaissance, this is a film well worth screening. Eqxuisititely shot and well-scripted, even if the Langston Estate did not approve, and with an elegantly postmodern twist to it, as the closing scene makes more than clear. Certainly, it is up to anyone's taste to decide if the visuals match the text, but surely the poetry chosen is unarguable and at least I found the narrative both informative and well done, especially given the limits of time and format, for - obviously - this is a documentary with definite artistic ambitions as well. But, in short, for anyone who likes Langston, this is a thing not a go without. A little black-and-white gem!

The movie Looking for Langston by Issac Julien discusses the issue of homosexuality in an artistic light. It's artistic because it represents deviations from the norm;it shows gay men as confident in their sexuality through poems. It represents men as being objectified rather than women in conventional Hollywood film. It made the audience think like a gay male, that men are beautiful. It showed the gay male's club scene. How each night, a man goes out and admires other men's beauty. Even though much of the film was hard to understand because of the complex language and rhyme scheme, I got the basic idea. Apparently there is a paucity of monogamous gay males. This film portrays the Harlem Renisance of the 1920's, it is only when a techo song comes on that the film changes from black and white to color. The mood of the film changes as well from thoughtful/poetic to fun/real. As the film ends the club is being raided by the police, this shows how in society today, a homosexual male has to keep his sexuality hidden.

This pretentious film reveals little about Langston Hughes, one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. Instead the filmmaker seems more interested in parading around a cadre of gay men on screen for no apparent reason. The film doesn't even explore with any depth the alleged sexual proclivities of Mr. Hughes. However, hat's off to the cinematographer and the production designer -- the film looks great. They should get plenty of work by placing the film on their respective demo reels. Unfortunately, as a fully realized work, the material is woefully lacking. At least the gay-themed "Tongues Untied" by the late Marlon Riggs, was at times insightful and funny. If after reading this review, you still decide to purchase this video, you will not only still be looking for Langston, but you will also be looking for your money back.