Cheryl Dunye's "The Watermelon Woman" Blu-ray - Cheryl Dunye / Guinevere Turner @Criterion
Added 2023-07-08 19:39:04 +0000 UTCBONUS CAPTURES:
Cheryl Dunye's "The Watermelon Woman" Blu-ray - Cheryl Dunye / Guinevere Turner @Criterion
OUR REVIEW:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film11/blu-ray_review_174/the_watermelon_woman_blu-ray.htm
The wry, incisive debut feature by Cheryl Dunye gave cinema something bracingly new and groundbreaking: a vibrant representation of Black lesbian identity by a Black lesbian filmmaker. Dunye stars as Cheryl, a video-store clerk and aspiring director whose interest in forgotten Black actresses leads her to investigate an obscure 1930s performer known as the Watermelon Woman, whose story proves to have surprising resonances with Cheryl’s own life as she navigates a new relationship with a white girlfriend (Guinevere Turner). Balancing breezy romantic comedy with a serious inquiry into the history of Black and queer women in Hollywood, The Watermelon Woman slyly rewrites long-standing constructions of race and sexuality on-screen, introducing an important voice in American cinema.
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The title of Cheryl Dunye's The Watermelon Woman is a play on the Melvin Van Peebles’s 1970's film Watermelon Man with comedian Godfrey Cambridge. Wikipedia states that "Dunye cites numerous influences that have contributed to her work including that of Chantal Akerman, Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Godard but notes that Jim McBride's David Holzman's Diary (1967) and Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (1977) are some of the "most powerful" influences on her." A history of 'The Watermelon Woman' actress sought by Cheryl's character in the story seems to represent a larger group of Black female performers marginalized or completely erased from Hollywood film history. There are subtle references to actresses like Hattie McDaniel (Show Boat), Butterfly McQueen (Gone with the Wind), Louise Beavers (1934's Imitation of Life), and others. Black lesbian genre films are not so much in my 'wheelhouse' as a DVD/Blu-ray reviewer. I was genuinely thankful to have seen Criterion's offering as I, otherwise would, probably, never have indulged in a viewing. The Watermelon Woman was smart, funny and interesting - very much worth seeing. To hear Dunye's motivations in the supplements, as well as other commentary, was also revealing. It would be pretty easy to pre-judge this fro a lot of people - but I am encouraging you to watch it for yourself. You will, undoubtedly, be impressed.
