Losing Ground (1982)

BODY & SOUL. Black Directors & Black Leads and today’s discussion is among the early works for full length feature films directed by a black woman or at least the first in a while. There is a lot of Black Hollywood history lost to time as we discuss in this conversation about Kathleen Collins true life inspired independent film about the dissolving of a relationship. What the 1982 film “LOSING GROUND” lacks in budget it makes up for in great characterization and some nice experimentation. A convincing look at the personalities & lives in the orbit of arts and academia. Sadly, Kathleen Collins passed away less than a decade after the film was released. She was just in her late 40s. The movie stars Seret Scott, Bill Gunn and Duane Jones wearing a bowler hat and a cloak. Yeah, the guy from “Night of the Living Dead” is rocking a cloak, totally unironic, and actually pulling tail with it. Fucking legend. This really seems like what middle aged black men should do. Wear cloaks and spit game. I think they could get away with it. Bill Gunn’s performance as a himbo painter feels very real. We’ve all known some Victors. Maybe you were a Victor once? Painting your abstract landscapes and wiggling your hips at Puerto Rican women. Leila, though. Shit…I get it. I’d be dancing like a fool too but I would also be wearing a cloak so I definitely would have sealed the deal way faster than Victor. We found “LOSING GROUND” on KANOPY and I think it’s on Criterion Channel as well. Seek it out for a cornerstone in independent cinema history. 

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