**** Any spoilers are only mild ones that I feel are necessary for an honest review.****
Truthfully, I am quite surprised this film has ended up being the one most on my mind one month post-Berlinale. As soon as I saw the title I just had to get a ticket. It made me think of all sorts of things -- not just the obvious, which is Spike Lee's Jungle Fever. The most interesting has to have been the divine Ms. Vaginal Davis' musings on the eroticization of black men at the 2006 Berlin Porn Film Festival. It's taken me some time to write this review, and I'm still not satisfied -- it was not an easy film.
It's hard to put my finger on what I liked about this film. It was unapologetic, I liked that. It was strongly autobiographical and didn't pretend to be anything other than a single person's view. The director is from a graphics arts background, which undoubtedly contributed to the strong presentation throughout of numerous idealized images and clips. We learned in the post-screening discussion that the producer, who is not appropriately credited, actually played nearly as important a directorial role. Much of what I think we are watching, although all questions were off-screen, is Yusuf Valley discussing this aspect of his life with his British producer. {This was James Mitchell, I believe.}
The discussion after the Berlinale has got to be the very first Q & A that I've EVER attended, in any film festival, in which ONLY WOMEN participated and the questions were all content-oriented (as opposed to technical). But most ranged from unhappy to quite upset, and perhaps I was one of the few white women who found it, quite simply, an interesting personal examination/confession. Perhaps I thought it a bit sad that he came to the conclusions that he did, but given his background in apartheid South Africa, it's hardly any wonder. I felt he did nice work locating his experiences within the broader socio-political context. I'd love to see more work like this that examines how media-driven sexualization and stereotyping of certain groups affects those who are not part of the favored group.