It follows Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders) and his wife, played by Kaycee Moore in their daily lives. He works at a slaughterhouse, then comes home to help her fix up the house and raise the kids. It's an interesting film in a lot of ways. Not the least of which is that there isn't a straightforward plot line. In a series of seemingly unconnected scenes, Stan goes to work, comes home, sees his friends, tries to go to a race on which he has placed a bet (his friend gets a flat tire and they don't make it). The kids go to school, play, get bullied, witness a theft. But nothing really happens; it doesn't go anywhere. And yet, a lot of things have happened. Lessons have been learned and decisions made that will potentially have an effect on the family's lives that they can't even fathom yet. So, we as viewers can't either. It just looks like any other day.
Because the scenes are edited that way, it also feels a lot like a documentary, even though it's not. In some ways, it reminded me of Yakuaya, the silent documentary I saw at Cine Las Americas this year. The scenes in the slaughterhouse were particularly reminiscent of that film for me. Other scenes felt like Frederick Wiseman's High School. Only, you know, less Wisemany. I think it felt that way because Wiseman's style was to observe without commenting, which is pretty much what was going on here. I read that the scenes in which the children are playing were completely unscripted, so it makes sense that they would have a documentary-type feel to them. It's interesting to see what kids will do to entertain themselves. These kids didn't have a lot of toys, so they played with things they found lying around: rocks, Halloween masks, whatever.
I think my favorite thing about it, though, was the music. And not just because it primarily consisted of jazz and blues music, which I happen to like a lot. I've always appreciated how powerful music can be. it can make a bad day into a good one, help purge negative feelings, make a mundane task fun. In this film, it added grace and beauty to otherwise grotesque slaughterhouse scenes, brought out the romance in the relationship between Stan and his wife, and added a sense of calm to a scene in which a child is injured while playing. It's absence had an impact too. We expect a film to have a score, something playing in the background to help set the tone of each scene. So when it's not there, the scene is automatically a little less comfortable, a little harder to watch. You might not even be able to put your finger on why that is right away, but it makes a big difference. In this case, it feels a little less like you're watching things happen in a movie and a little more like you're watching in real life, peeking around a corner to see what's going on over there. You almost feel guilty for not helping that kid who's getting picked on, until you remember that it's just a movie.
I enjoyed it. I don't think a lot of people would though. It's not anything like the movies you'd see in theaters now. It doesn't seem to be trying to be entertaining. It's more of a realistic look at a part of American culture that those of us who haven't lived that way, in that time, wouldn't otherwise know anything about. I think it's fascinating. I'm glad I managed to get out and see it. I hope I'll get to a lot the Classic Film Series. This year's line up is really great. Check it out.
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