Khalik Allah, a visual artist best-known for collaborations with Beyoncé (as DP on Lemonade) and the Wu-Tang Clan, is following-up 2016’s much-praised Field Niggas with Black Mother, a poetic, sometimes dizzying vision of Jamaica, the country’s history, and what that means for its people. (And one of our top picks for what to see this month.) Shot with a variety of film stocks and heavily manipulative in its use of sound, the movie could be called Malick-esque, but, blissfully, a focus on documentary portraiture will throw most viable comparisons out the window rather fast. Following a trailer last month, the director has edited a new preview — one decidedly quieter, and more focused on the imagery of its island setting.
Our review was laudatory, saying, “Comparisons of Black Mother to cinematic poetry are apt, but it’s harder to pinpoint than that, more aptly described in relation to sound or music–free-flowing jazz, fluidly connecting otherwise inconceivable strands of culture, politics, and history in Jamaica. The faces shown rarely match the soundscape and the audio and visual components of the film seem to operate parallel to each other. Words, in this case, fill in what traditional scoring tries but often fails to accomplish. In just two films, he has developed and honed his incomparable style, providing the documentary form itself with one of the most memorable, intense experiences in recent memory.”
Watch, and find the poster (designed by Midnight Marauder), below:
Black Mother opens on March 8.