Saturday, October 31, 2015

Auteur Watch - Zeinabu irene Davis

Alas, she seems to be stuck in some sort of limbo where only short films on college campuses exist.  But she got to have some fun during those go-go '90s.  She and her partner in cinematic crime, so to speak, her husband Marc Arthur Chéry, oh they got 'er done.  He did the writing, she the directing, and they made a total of three films together during that decade of record... alas, the nostalgia's already happening.  Someone's got a song called "1991" I believe?  I heard about it in the gym locker not too long ago... oh, apparently there's two: one by Azealia Banks, one by Kat Graham.  That's about as far as I go, research-wise.  The one that got the most critical traction... by which, I mean any critical traction, was 1999's Compensation.  The collaboration between director Zeinabu and star John Jelks, well, I haven't seen anything quite like it since Lina Wertmüller and Giancarlo Giannini... which probably speaks more to by lack of depth of knowledge about the great film collaborations than anything.
The plot of 1999's Compensation involves a modern-day couple (1990s-era) and a similar, parallel story involving a couple from the turn of the century.  Now, sure, I could be cynical and say that 1991's Dead Again had a similar conceit.  As did How to Make an American Quilt and Fried Green Tomatoes to an extent.  And what about Cloud Atlas and Being Human and The Hours and Alex & Emma?  Well, some of those came after...  Anyway, sure, I could sit here and rattle off those titles, but the review I read of it kinda piqued my interest, what can I say?  Alas, it doesn't seem to be at my local big-city video store, and they have everything.  Doesn't seem to be on YouTube either.  Will no one put up the money to get this to DVD?  Not Blu-Ray, that's way too expensive.  Unfortunately for us, John Jelks never answers his phone... Mr. Big Shot.

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