overview
Charles Burnett, one of America's most highly regarded independent filmmakers, wrote and directed this domestic drama about a black middle-class family living in South central Los Angeles. However, there are no gangs, no guns, no drugs but instead a lyrical story that draws on folklore and the supernatural.
family tensions are already simmering when Harry (Danny Glover) arrives to visit his old friends. He exudes an easy charm, knows secret past and present and is soon installed in the heart of the family. However, as his stay lengthens, so does he begin to cast an even more malevolent spell, provoking turmoil, setting son against son, reviving past hatreds, and inflicting a mysterious illness.
Glover delivers a career-topping performance as the garrulous family friend, full of hidden menace, effortlessly evoking nostalgia and horror in the same breath.
As ever, Burnett provides a wonderful music track featuring gospel, blues and jazz and a cameo from the legendary Jimmy Weatherspoon.
'A slow-burning, soul-insinuating, 12-bar blues of a movie.' Tom Charity, Time Out
'Danny Glover is marvellous, and terrifying, as a charismatic old-timer.' The Times
(from the description on the back cover of the DVD)