Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Film What's Old: Chameleon Street
Posted by J.R. Jones on Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 1:18 PM
This week's repertory pick is the coolly literate indie drama Chameleon Street (1989), which screens this Thursday, September 4, 7 PM, at Chatham 14, 210 W. 87st St., 773-783-8711. Winner of a Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance film festival, the movie has been revived around town occasionally and recently won a DVD release from Image Entertainment. But this screening comes with an added treat: an appearance by Wendell B. Harris Jr., the movie's brainy writer, director, and star.
Chameleon Street is based on the life of William Douglas Street, a Detroit con man who pulled off a series of impersonations in the 70s and 80s. An early scene shows Street arguing with a coworker in the cab of their delivery truck about the ways black people alter their appearance and behavior to mesh with the white world. The conversation clearly frames the movie's trenchant vision of African-American life: when Street passes himself off as a reporter for Time magazine, an exchange student at Yale, a surgeon, and a human rights attorney, he's only indulging in a more pathological version of the masquerade some blacks endure for much of their lives.
Onscreen Harris often positions himself in the frame so that his face is cloaked in shadow, which not only becomes an effective visual motif for his chameleonic hero but also serves as an ironic summary of his career since then. As Harris explains in an interview with Cinemad, his triumph at Sundance led to a series of Hollywood production deals that never panned out. The industry was less interested in distributing Chameleon Street than in remaking it with a bankable star (Sinbad, Wesley Snipes, Will Smith) and a more mainstream point of view. Eventually Harris moved back home, and since 1993 he's been working on another independent project, a sci-fi epic called Arbiter Roswell. Perhaps the recent rediscovery of Chameleon Street will bring him out of the shadows once and for all.
Comments (1)
Showing 1-1 of 1
This is an excellent witty film. 1989 til present is a long time for the director an star of the film t have been virtually unrecognized. Sure i have seen him in a guest star or two but nothing that fully used his talents. It didnt seem like the film costed a lot to make so i dont understand why more havent been made. Spike's She's gotta have it didnt cost much either and look where it took him. We are so enundated with music videos.. all showing the same ol' crap. why can someone go out on a creative limb?
like
dislike
Latest in Bleader
-
Blackhawks deep-sixed
The Blackhawks lose their sixth straight game
- Feb 9, 2012
-
Mart kills Art Chicago
Merchandise Mart cancels Art Chicago
- Feb 9, 2012
-
More I Saw Yous!
Missed connections from Reader readers
- Feb 9, 2012
- More »
Author Archives
-
This week's movie action
New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue.
- Nov 18, 2011
-
This week's movie action: special grandma edition
New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue.
- Nov 23, 2011
-
One marriage, under Allah
The superb new Iranian drama A Separation looks at family life in a theocracy
- Jan 26, 2012
- More »
