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Drylongso

1999, Movie, R, 87 mins

Drylongso: Review

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The 1990s brought a slew of films lamenting the plight of poor African Americans caught in a vicious web of drugs, gangs and crime in urban slums. Many of these films seemed to be motivated by an unfortunate combination of liberal guilt and sublimated envy that led to glamorization of the subject matter. Not so this film, whose title is a slang term meaning "ordinary" or "same old thing." Director Cauleen Smith is clearly aware that she's treading on familiar turf, but she offers up a slightly more candid and personal take on the subject. Pica (Toby Smith), a young black woman, rents a room in her mother’s house in Oakland, CA, struggling to get by as she tends to her immature mother and the partying freeloaders who drift in and out of the house while she studies photography at a local community college. Pica can’t find a moment’s peace at home and spends a lot of time hanging out on the streets, where the usual threat of ghetto violence is amplified by a serial killer stalking young African Americans. Life and art merge as Pica begins taking Polaroid photos of local boys; documents to validate the existence of an endangered species. Just as Pica’s snapshots enshrine the humanity of disappearing souls, the film succeeds in capturing the vitality of a community struggling to rise above dire straits. Unfortunately the lack of dramatic tension reduces and blurs the characters' stories. leave a comment --Rachel Liebling
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