My study of history has led me to the position that every African child born over the next millennium should be entitled to two items at birth: a gun and a camera.

So yeah here go some recommendations, I'm by no means a cinosaur (LMAO) but for the totally uninitiated you might find something interesting here. I'm writing about these movies the best way I know how: without having seen a single one of em in the past 6 months lmao I know I'm a real Richard Brody, but naw it's actually a cool exercise to see what stuck with me.

Midnight In Paris (2019) dir. Roni Moore & James Blagden

This jawn was Thurl w/ a capital T, prolly the first one outta all of these I'll rewatch. If Les Blank was still living he woulda saw this jawn and wished he made it fr (but he couldn't have). It's just specific as shit w/ a legendary premise: senior prom in Flint, Michigan in 2012. I ain't know prom got that heavy out there I was geeked all throughout lmao. I remember thinking like damn this jawn really distilled this particular culture so well but didn't feel like it was trapping none of the people in a diorama which is hard not to do in any documentary let alone one about a captive population in a notorious city-without-water. The way they used music was great, the characters was dumb lovable, it really was just a pure hit of joy and nostalgia no rerock. It reminded me that Black high-schooler humor is unparalleled, I was in the theater ctfu. It also reminded me that I went on prom with one of the best people I know s/o my yungbol Joshalyn! So yeah long story short this jawn a hit and lucky for you it's streaming for free right here on YouTube now that's love, word to Roni and the Blag Man.

Talking About Trees (2019) dir. Suhaib Gasmelbari

Ya zol lmaoooo. Naw this one right here, it mighta been created in a lab just for me. I could share a special anecdote from my childhood that would make you agree, but this still the Internet so get off my dick lol. But the fact that olhead made this whole thing in secret is really an inspiration. As much as I try not to be super joe cinephile bul, I couldn't imagine having to hide my love of talkies lol. The four main characters in this embody the original meaning of the word cool (as revealed to me by the Spacebug herself). Imagine having the courage to try to screen Django Unchained under nutass Omar al-Bashir lmao I'd like to think that's the type gumption I would have in that scenario. Plus I just never suspected that I would ever see a camel at a movie theater before LMAO that's one of my favorite moments. And the part where the one jidu was tryna track down his movie from back in the day in broken Russian... I didn't realize we had olheads like these, really brought a tear to my eye.

Time (2020) dir. Garrett Bradley

The way the main lady in this jawn was moving...just made me regret ever saying the B-word in my whole natural-born life man smh. Talk about some Divine Femininity I'm bouta just go full Hotep ctfuuuu. I can't lie I sometimes wince at the thought of using any archival footage at all cuz it seems like such a tall task like damn you want me to look through allat??? But the execution here is impeccable and it was literally and figuratively a labor of love I just gotta respect the craft 🤝💯. And this jawn was just like the most elegeant samurai slice at mass incarceration where the victim just quietly split into two w/o realizing he even died — and while I'm here I'll just repeat the statistic that always bears repetition cuz it's so insane: Americans make up 5% of the global population but 25% of the global prison population that's so fucking gnarly imma just break that down for the mathematically challenged... If you took all the people in the world, 1 in every 20 of them would be American. Now if you took all the *prisoners* in the world, 1 in every 4 would be American that's so fucking crazy man beam me up. Anyway back to the movie, these poor kids man, got a tough ass mom but I know that shit had to be hard, but the one yungbol prolly fuck around be Obama 3.0 (AOC is Obama 2.0 and Obama is Bill Clinton 2.0 and so on all the way back to the Fallen Angel decalcify ya pineal I couldn't resist this tangent ctfuuuu) in a crazy ass plot twist I sure hope not though. Shorty snapped on the new Naomi Osaka jawn too I might got a lil camera crush keep it a stack but word to all my Vespucci dogs, iykyk type shit.

Black Mother (2018) dir. Khalik Allah

This one really activated the most of my senses though, just dumb sensory like you turned on the Byakugan and whatever smelling jutsu Kiba got lmao. What I love about it most in retrospect is how I remember feeling dumb hazy and vibed out like I was really in Jamaica the whole time, but then the jawn just got dumb literal at the end to snap me back to reality lmfaoooo touché akbar talib. This is prolly the most challenging watch outta all of these but very rewarding, you gotta just submit forreal. Eventually felt like I was meditating and it just got way more lit soon as I turned that corner. That's fitting too cuz word on the street is main man got Kiarostami in the lineage LMAO but just blend the Wu in there and it's off the charts.

Hoop Dreams (1994) dir. Steven James

This is the only movie here that isn't directed by a Black person but...it's Hoop Dreams. I consider this one foundational to my love of documentaries, I've watched it a half dozen times probably, which amounts to 18 hours of my life cuz this jawn is a whopping 3 hours long. Well worth it though. It operates on so many levels: class, race, crime, family, friendship, education, all wrapped up inside a basketball movie. Imma watch this one second. I don't follow sports as closely as I used to when I was a younger man, so I'm sure this will be just the fix I've been needing.

After that millennium is up, that should be the entitlement of all children, and more.