From the Collection: Drylongso

Cauleen Smith’s Drylongso recently got a Blu-ray release from the Criterion Collection. 

A definitive film of 1990s DIY filmmaking, Drylongso is an incisive look at racial injustice within a lovingly handmade buddy movie/murder mystery/romance. Alarmed by the rate at which the young Black men around her are dying, a brash Oakland, California, art student Pica (Toby Smith) attempts to preserve their existence in Polaroid snapshots, along the way forging a friendship with a woman in an abusive relationship (April Barnett) and experiencing love, heartbreak, and the everyday threat of violence. Smith captures the vibrant community spirit of Oakland in the nineties and crafts a rare cinematic celebration of Black female creativity and a moving elegy for a generation of lost African American men.

Here’s what the disc includes:

• New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Cauleen Smith, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New conversation between Smith and film scholar Michael B. Gillespie
• Short films by Smith, including Chronicles of a Lying Spirit by Kelly Gabron, Songs for Earth & Folk, Lessons in Semaphore, Egungun (Ancestor Can’t Find Me), Remote Viewing, and Suffolk, with a new introduction by Smith
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by film scholar Yasmina Price
• New cover by Krista Franklin

The film’s title is derived from the Gullah word “ordinary”, but Drylongso is no ordinary film. It’s a miracle of a film that defines the spirit of independent Black cinema. Shot on 16mm film with a microbudget, Smith utilizes the community and beauty of Oakland to craft a stunning film about Black culture, creativity, love, life, and death, all of which translate well in today’s world. The 4k restoration is gorgeous and makes the vibrant colors and textured settings. pop off the screen bringing Oakland to life and giving it even more personality. 

While hardly known to mainstream audiences due to not getting picked up by a studio for release back in 1998, Drylongso is a lightning-in-a-bottle film that is unlike anything that is made today. This is a marvelous film that I highly recommend everyone seek out.

You can buy the Criterion edition of Drylongso on the Criterion website or anywhere Criterion Collection DVDs are sold.

More From the Collection

Imitation of Life

Three Colors Trilogy

Last Hurrah for Chivilary

The Fisher King

Targets

One False Move

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams

From the Collection is an analysis piece of non-new-release movies, whether seen on DVD, streaming, or in a theater, and includes a brief history of the film, a review of the film, and content about the experience of seeing the film and/or the contents of the film’s DVD.

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