Buy Tongues Untied on DVD

Tongues Untied

DVD

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$22.49 (10% off)
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Synopsis

Marlon Rigg's classic poetic documentary is a legendary piece of guerilla filmmaking that opens the black gay urban experience to the world at large. It gave us chills twenty years ago.

3 Reasons To buy this film

A landmark, essential film
Snap divas
It's poetry on film

Review

The late Marlon Riggs was an Emmy award winner whose documentaries focus on gay African-American men. He was a brave and unapologetic filmmaker who ruffled feathers gladly causing a huge dispute about national funding for the arts. Riggs stories are fierce examples of homophobia and racism: the man refused entry to a gay bar because of his color; the college student left bleeding on the sidewalk; the loneliness of the drag queen. His storeis affirm the black gay experience: protest marches, smoky bars, snap divas and vogueing. Twenty years later this film stands as a historic film that changed the course of arts funding in the US, and opened the world's eyes to the black gay experience.

This highly acclaimed film provides poetry, personal testimony, rap and performances to describe the homophobia and racism that confronts gay African-Americans. The film garnered some surprising controversy when some PBS stations, disturbed by its subject matter, refused to air it. A personal and at times angry documentary that speaks to the gay black experience.

-- Raymond Murray

Product Format Information

DVD : $22.49

Availability: Usually ships in
5-10 days
Close Caption: Yes
Region Code: 1
UPC: 712267500529
Catalog #: DV1194222

Studio : Strand Releasing

Languages: English (Primary)
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
Features:
Interview(s): A 1991 interview with director Marlon Riggs
Interview(s): Interviews with Isaac Julien, filmmaker; Phill Wilson, AIDS activist; Juba Kalamka, spoken word/rap artist; Herman Gray, cultural critic
7 minutes of deleted scenes and outtakes

Keywords

African-American/People of Color, Classics, Documentary/Documentaries, Gay Male, Gay/Lesbian, Sexuality: Gay Male, Urban Lifestyle

Genres

Documentary, Late Night/Cult

Customer Reviews

Looking at African-American Homosexuality

Amos Lassen wrote on 04/03/2011:

Marlon Riggs made “Tongues Untied” in 1990 and in it he celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. Now thanks to Stand Releasing we are able to see this classic documentary on DVD. Essex Hemphill, the poet, recites his poetry as the film moves forward with Riggs telling his own story of growing up. There are scenes of men in the social milieu of the times and there are comic skits—including a look at the Institute of “Snap!thology” where men learn how to snap their fingers. The film ends with obituaries to AIDS victims and footage of the civil rights movement alongside of Black men marching in a gay pride parade.
When the movie was made it was regarded as an experiment to show the marginalized voices which would be concerned with the disruption of the hegemony of the upper-middle class and even though this film fits that genre of film, there is something very special about it and that is its sheer beauty. Being Black and gay meant in the 90’s that a person was torn from both a racial and sexual standpoint. The first audiences were offended by the film because they probably did not understand the point of the movie. What Riggs gives here is self-projection—his desires, history, motivation, fears, angers, love and sexuality, culture and humor.
Not much is said in the film but not much needs to be said. The poetry of being Black and being gay along with the crisp photography says it all. As a socio-political commentary, the movie shocks as it denounces popular stereotypes but it is not clear exactly which stereotypes it denounces—homophobic Black men?
The movie simply takes a slap at conformity and it succeeds in its controversial look at a side of society that many do not want to see.