• Reviews
    • Watch This
    • VODepths
  • Humor
  • On the Marquee
  • Looking Back
    • Classic Corner
    • Anniversary
  • Film Fests
Crooked Marquee
  • Reviews
    • Watch This
    • VODepths
  • Humor
  • On the Marquee
  • Looking Back
    • Classic Corner
    • Anniversary
  • Film Fests
Home
Reviews

Review: Residue

Sep 17th, 2020 Craig Lindsey
Review: Residue

As someone who moved back to his hometown a few years ago, Residue cut me deep. Much like the protagonist of this story, I returned to my old stomping grounds and found that what I once remembered fondly was long gone, my friends and loved ones didn’t exactly greet me with open arms, and a surprising abundance of white people had moved in. This movie hit me like a ton of bricks, the kind that’s gonna be used to build some swanky apartment complex — just as soon as that elementary school has been bulldozed.

Residue (on Netflix and in selected theaters this Friday) is the debut work of writer-director Merawi Gerima, the son of Ethiopian-born, LA Rebellion filmmaker Haile Gerima (Sankofa, 1993) — and, yes, the boy is a chip off the old, Black-and-proud block.

It’s also semi-autobiographical: USC film student Jay (Obi Nwachukwu) returns home to his old Washington, D.C. neighborhood to write a movie, which Gerima did after a stint at USC film school. Immediately, things aren’t exactly as they seem. While moving into his temporary living quarters, located above his parents’ old home, he’s greeted by a white dude who tells him to turn down the go-go music in his truck, which he also mentions is double-parked. As for his parents, they’re out in the ‘burbs. But, as he soon learns, even they can’t escape the phone calls and notices taped to the front door from people who want to buy their home.

Jay spends most of his time trying to get reacquainted with his old buddies, but that’s no  lovefest. He tries to locate his across-the-street BFF Demetrius, but no one wants to give up the info, especially the tormented Delonte (an icy Dennis Lindsey). Despite the fact that Jay is visibly struggling, Delonte feels he was “out in Cali, living the life,” and is bitter that Jay left while Delonte  and his boys were still in this jungle — scratching and surviving, as the old Good Times theme goes.

As much as Jay reminisces — via hazy, muffled memories — about the carefree past he once had, riding his bike and going to the mountains with his boys, the noisy construction, casual racism from white folk and overall urban decay keeps snapping him out of it. 

All this makes Jay one angry, conflicted guy — and Residue one angry, conflicted movie. Jay generally hates white people for muscling in on his turf (Nwachukwu always has a scowl ready for any pale person he sees in khakis), ready to pave away his past and turn it into another gentrified haven. But it’s his own people that often give him the most pain and grief, which would explain why he got the hell out of there in the first place. After all, D.C. is still a town where you can get knocked out and your pockets run, friends can easily vanish — either from gunshots or a court sentencing — and cops are always around to snap on the cuffs. (In one jarring, quick-cutting sequence, Gerima shows all of that, complete with an upside-down shot of a sidewalk oozing with blood while white ladies are having brunch nearby, joking about not wanting to live in a crackhouse.) And yet, this is something he can’t admit to himself or his girl (Taline Stewart), who’s wondering why she’s even there. Man, the ‘hood has really screwed this dude up.

Residue is a furious, ferocious film, both a love letter and a middle finger to the one-and-only Chocolate City. Gerima makes such assured, calculated moves behind the camera (he and cinematographer/colorist Mark Jeevaratnam come up with shots that can go sweaty to chaotic to artfully abstract at a moment’s notice), it’s no wonder Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Releasing snapped it up after it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival.

Unlike Blindspotting (2018) and The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019), recent debut features about gentrification which peppered their melancholy, racial-erasure narratives with quirky, satirical laughs, there is nothing funny about Residue. In fact, you could say it even presents the argument that some places need to disappear, especially to people who’ve outgrown them. When it comes to hellish ‘hoods like the one portrayed in this movie — to borrow a line from the last, good Star Wars movie — it’s time to let the old things die.

A-

  • Tags
  • Movies
  • reviews
Facebook Twitter Google+
Craig Lindsey

Craig Lindsey

Related Posts
The Chaotic B-Movie Retro Charm of Gerard Butler
Kayleigh Donaldson

The Chaotic B-Movie Retro Charm of Gerard Butler

Jan 24th, 2023
<strong>The Best Movies to Buy or Stream This Week: ‘The Menu,’ ‘She Said,’ ‘Groundhog Day’ and More</strong>
Jason Bailey

The Best Movies to Buy or Stream This Week: ‘The Menu,’ ‘She Said,’ ‘Groundhog Day’ and More

Jan 18th, 2023
VODepths: What to See (and Avoid) on Demand This Week
Josh Bell

VODepths: What to See (and Avoid) on Demand This Week

Jan 17th, 2023
Trending
Jan 27th 9:00 AM
Looking Back

Classic Corner: Play Misty for Me

Jan 24th 9:00 AM
Movies

The Chaotic B-Movie Retro Charm of Gerard Butler

Oct 25th 8:00 AM
Culture

I Love Lucifer: The Evolution of Satan in Cinema

Nov 17th 9:00 AM
Movies

The Strange, Sordid Tale of Charles Bronson Lookalike Robert Bronzi

Oct 8th 9:00 AM
Reviews

Review: Charm City Kings

Jun 11th 11:00 AM
Looking Back

Justice for Jeanie: Ferris Bueller at 35

Feb 7th 7:00 AM
Looking Back

Narrow Margin: Gene Hackman’s Masterclass in Advanced Neesonry

Oct 23rd 6:00 AM
Looking Back

1970s Made-for-TV Movies That Ignited an Occult Obsession

May 15th 4:00 PM
Looking Back

Fright Night Part II: The Lost Sequel (and How a Double Murder Prevented Part III)

Feb 11th 11:00 AM
Movies

Review: Camp Cold Brook

cmpopcorn_white3.svg
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Writers Guidelines
  • Members
    • Login
    • SignUp
    • Forums
telephone icon [email protected]
envelope icon [email protected]
© 2014-2022 Crooked™ Publishing
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}