#ben ellison

[genevieveetguy]

Looking for Langston, Isaac Julien (1989)

[pierppasolini]

Looking for Langston (1989) // dir. Isaac Julien

[pierppasolini]

Looking for Langston (1989) // dir. Isaac Julien

[pierppasolini]

Looking for Langston (1989) // dir. Isaac Julien

[guysonfilms]

Matthew Baidoo and Ben Ellison (Looking for Langston, 1989)

[soulbrotherv2]

Looking for Langston (B&W) starring Ben Ellison, Matthew Baidoo, and directed by Isaac Julien

Award-winning British filmmaker Isaac Julien`s LOOKING FOR LANGSTON is both critically acclaimed and controversial. The film is a lyrical and poetic consideration of the life of revered Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. Isaac 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 Humphill, Bruce Nugent, and Robert Mapplethorpe, constructing a lyrical and multilayered narrative. Julien explores the ambiguous sexual subtexts of the period of rich artistic expression, and the enduring cultural significance of the pioneer s work. Shot in sumptuous monochrome, the film combines archival footage with the 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 desire. [book link]