Barry Jenkins Makes a Great Commercial
- story Matthew Schnipper
You could also call it a short film, as he does. And with little exception, Barry Jenkins’ Tall Enough is a short film, though it does do its initial shill for Bloomingdales, who funded it along with shorts by four other young, independent directors. We first found Jenkins through his film Medicine for Melancholy, and in our Q+A with him about that film, he discussed how his love story was just as much about racial tension, a city’s division and general poverty as it was about romance. Tall Enough is also about a romance and race, but doesn’t have time to get heavy, so it’s just got the earnestness that made us such a sucker for Medicine for Melancholy, Jenkins’ genuine eye and love for romance. It also has a tall woman falling for a short dude, something dear to the heart of one particular FADER editor. And if you speak Chinese, let us know what he says to her in bed.
-
posted on Sep 24, 2009 in ART+CULTURE, ART+CULTURE VIDEO tags Barry Jenkins, Bloomingdales, Medicine For Melancholy
Q+A: Medicine For Melancholy’s Barry Jenkins
- story THE FADER
Barry Jenkins wrote Medicine For Melancholy in a coffee shop. Then they filmed the movie over two weeks. Because that is what happens when you make a movie and work on the floor at Banana Republic at the same time. Your movie, probably, is also going to be mostly about you. Write what you know, you know? In that spirit, the film is about the night after a one night stand between two people. Set against gentrifying San Francisco, Micah and Jo — both black, both “indie” — are trying to figure out how to move in a world that is predefining, narrow and not particularly romantic. Fortunately they have MySpace and weed to help them out. We spoke with Jenkins, who also directed the film, read our Q+A after the jump.
-
posted on Feb 26, 2009 in ART+CULTURE INTERVIEWS, MUSIC INTERVIEWS tags Barry Jenkins, Medicine For Melancholy, Q+A, TV on the Radio
