“Merawi Gerima’s ‘Residue Streaks’ the Soul”

In magical Christmasland where things are not problematic, I would program the hell out of Residue alongside movies like Killer of Sheep and Hale County This Morning, This Evening*, a collection of work that captures over decades a variety of Black American experiences. We don’t live in that land and I would have to be drunk and high to even attempt that sort of thing as a career Caucasian, but I hope someone does. (They probably already have.)

Anyways, Residue is a) terrific, and b) accessible, because it’s on Netflix, and you have Netflix. Don’t lie to me. When I consider Black American films, I consider it through my own lens as a white American male, and in this particular case I was struck by, as I note in my piece, the way that Merawi Gerima consciously strives to throw whiteness out of the frame. If that doesn’t speak volumes, nothing does.

You can read my full review over at Paste Magazine.

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*Mentioned only because I must plug that film whenever I can, because it’s a miracle.