Running Time: 83 minutes
Directed By: Charles Burnett
Written By: Charles Burnett
Main Cast: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett, Eugene Cherry
Click here to view the trailer
KILL ME INSTEAD
On Tuesday, I was feeling lucky. Having watched both Chaplin's The Circus and Baumbach's Fraces Ha and rating both highly, I decided to try for a lucky third and thus, popped in Killer of Sheep. Little did I know that my luck had run out by that time and that I was overdue for a stinker. Read on...
The film isn't even worth writing a plot synopsis, as there really isn't a particular plot, per se. It's simply a film that sort of examines the life of a hard working, yet poor African American man and his family and puts the ghetto's of America under a microscope, so that we may peer in and have a taste. Actually, if you want an A+ review of Killer of Sheep, buy THE BOOK and read the film's passage, written by Ernest Hardy - who very much over gushes about the movie - someone who has obviously been moved by the picture. In a way, you want him to tone it down a notch, because it's just piling on after a certain point, but then on the other hand, you realize that you're reading something written by a man who this film truly means something to and it's like me writing about Tarantino or Woody Allen and thus, I excused the gushing.
I, myself, found literally no reasons to gush and many reasons to whine, yet again, about why this is taking up space in THE BOOK, a BOOK where only 1001 spots are available. In my opinion, I found the film to be quite pointless and actually, Ernest Hardy's review even points out that Burnett was being banal on purpose and that the film "takes your breath away by not trying to take your breath away". I can't decide if that's the most ridiculous quote I've read from THE BOOK or perhaps, the most perfect. Personally, my breath wasn't taken away once during the eighty minute running time. What did happen, was that I was bored out of my skull and even at eighty minutes, I was being a major clock watcher. Was Burnett trying to say anything? Or was he simply giving us a visual aid, food for thought? I don't know really and honestly, I wasn't even intrigued enough to care what Burnett's purpose was. I've earned my tick, lets move on.
RATING: 2/10 I don't really know why a '2', as opposed to a '1' or a '3' - just feels like a '2', I guess. I'm still planning to watch five more movies between now and the end of August, so expect rapid fire reviews.
MOVIES WATCHED: 956
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 45
August 27, 2015 4:43pm
I don't thik I was as bored by it as you .. in fact i may go as high as a 5 .. I did say maybe .. but I fully get all the points you made... and yes, what a daft little quote...
ReplyDeleteYeah, I just can't go that high. That would imply average and I thought it well below average.
DeleteYes, the one who wrote this review was way too happy to have seen this.