Looking for Langston (1989)
A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. A wake is going on, with mourners gathered around a coffin. Downstairs is an elegant bar where tuxedoed men dance and talk. One of them has a dream in which he comes upon Beauty, who seems to reject him, although when he awakes, Beauty is sleeping beside him. His story and his visits to the jazz and dance club are framed by voices reading from the poetry and essays of Hughes and others. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.
Director:
Isaac Julien
Writer:
Isaac Julien
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Ben Ellison as Alex |
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Matthew Baidoo as Beauty |
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Akim Mogaji as James |
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John Wilson as Karl |
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Dencil Williams as Marcus |
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Guy Burgess as Dean |
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Dublin James Wahlberg as Carlos |
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Harry Donaldson as Leatherboy |
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Jimmy Somerville as Angel |
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Langston Hughes as Self (archive footage) |
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Stuart Hall as British (voice) |
| Directing | Isaac Julien | Director |
| Writing | Isaac Julien | Screenplay |
| Production | Nadine Marsh-Edwards | Producer |
| Camera | Nina Kellgren | Director of Photography |
| Editing | Robert Hargreaves | Editor |
| Sound | Wayson Jones | Original Music Composer |
| Sound | Trevor Mathison | Original Music Composer |
| Sound | Peter Spencer | Original Music Composer |
| Art | Derek Brown | Art Direction |
| Sound | Ronald Bailey | Sound mixer |
