Looking for Langston - Isaac Julien (DVD, 1989) Region 2

Looking for Langston - Isaac Julien (DVD, 1989) Region 2.

Award-winning British filmmaker Isaac Julien's film is both

critically acclaimed, and controversial. A lyrical and poetic

consideration of the life of revered Harlem Renaissance poet

Langston Hughes, Julien invokes Hughes as a black gay

cultural icon, against an impressionistic, atmospheric setting

that parallels a Harlem speakeasy of the 1920s with a

1980s London underground nightclub.

Extracts from Hughes' poetry are interwoven with the work of

cultural figures from the 1920s and beyond, including Essex

Hemphill, Bruce Nugent and Robert Mapplethorpe,

constructing a lyrical and multilayered narrative. Julien

explores the ambiguous sexual subtexts of a period of rich

artistic expression, and the enduring cultural significance

of these pioneers' work.

Shot in sumptuous monochrome by cinematographer Nina

Kellgren, the film combines archival footage with newly

staged set pieces, fantasy sequences, and an imagined love

story. The result is a beautiful and ultimately celebratory piece

about artistic expression and the nature of black gay desire.

Extras

Extras

• Full

commentary with Isaac

Julien

and

Nina

Kellgren

(the film's Director of Photography)

• Short film Portrait in Blue: Essex Hemphill (Isaac Julien, 2005)

• 'First and Last Words: Essex Hemphill and Larry Duckette in

Conversation'

audio recording of a 1990 radio programme

• Photo gallery

• 48-page fully illustrated booklet with essays by bell hooks, Henry

Louis Gates, Jr, Armond White and others; interview with director;

reviews; biographies of key Harlem Renaissance figures; and more

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