THE CYNEPHILE

"The cinema is cruel like a miracle." -Frank O'Hara

Medicine for Melancholy [Barry Jenkins, 2008]

Barry Jenkin’s Medicine for Melancholy is many wonderful things.

1. It is not a mumblecore film.

2. It is an understated homage to Jean-Luc Godard’s À Bout de Souffle [Breathless, 1960]. The film’s cinematography emulates Breathless in its look and feel, and there are several direct (but not derivative) references to iconic scenes:

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The most obvious allusion is to Michel making faces at Patricia in the bathroom.

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Wyatt Cenac as Micah, mimicking Belmondo’s trio of expressions in his bathroom mirror.

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And then there’s the t-shirt that Patricia wears as she hawks newspapers up and down the Champs-Élysées.

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Tracey Heggins as Jo, with her short, short hair, and yellow Loden t-shirt  (as in Barbara Loden, director of Wanda).

Jean_paul_belmondo_Jean_seberg_breathless
And finally, a scene in which Michel and Patricia lounge around endlessly in bed, having an intimate and often meaningless conversation — as only lovers can.

tracey_heggins_wyatt_cenac_medicine_for_melancholy

It is a something of a cliché in film school to cite Godard as one of your favorite filmmakers. But Barry Jenkins has managed to evoke his love of Godard — and these quintessential, beloved moments from a film that cinephiles hold so dear — and make them his own. I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Read an interview with Barry Jenkins from efilmcritc.com.

Category: film reviews

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3 Responses

  1. Love the stills you chose to compare these films.

    Medicine For Melacholy is an excellent film that deals intelligently with the topic of race. Unfortunately, it’s only brain-dead films like Precious and Crash that seem to get any attention for dealing with that topic.

    Further Reading:
    Barry Jenkin’s Interview in The FADER

    Dennis Lim’s review in the New York Times

  2. no manifesto says:

    You mention cinephiles, so I am wondering, what is a cinephile? Why is this a good thing to be? Can you explain in a future post? A cinephile manifesto!

  3. brandi says:

    a cinephile is a lover of films.

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