A Love Song for Latasha

This is not an easy watch, but it's worth watching every minute. It is exactly what the title says, a love song, and like so many love songs has heartbreak at its core. A young black girl shot, her life seemingly worth $1.79, and no justice. This could have been 1951 rather than 1991, and tragically could be 2021.

A mini-documentary. It is about the murder of a teenage girl in the 90's and the feelings of her acquaintances. Piercing. Raw. Quality. The narrations and the recreation of her voice are exemplary. Animations and skits are fine. Seek justice and promptly expose the harassment experienced by people of color in certain neighborhoods in the United States. In 20 minutes it leaves you with a sour taste. In the end it could be you or I who tragically loses my life while going to the store. It is a documentary made with love that reclaims the life of a black girl. Safety pin.

"A Love Song for Latasha" isn't only a sentimental recollection--although it's that, too--of the life of Latasha Harlins, who was shot to death in the back of the head by a convenience store owner over, as the documentary short says, a dispute regarding a container of orange juice. While the 1992 Los Angels riots, or uprising, are usually described as a consequence of the acquittal of the officers who were videotaped beating Rodney King, this picture also considers the killing of Latasha, whose killer was convicted for manslaughter and never sentenced to prison, as a contributing factor. Much of this is told in the over-used style of text at the end of the movie before the credits. Before that, however, we get a uniquely constructed piece of documentary filmmaking.

Although only 19 minutes long, it took a while for me to warm up to the style of the picture--initially finding it distracting from the interviewees' recollections of Latasha's friend and cousin, including about her dream of becoming an attorney. Regardless, it's an innovative approach of recreated or reimagined footage as if from old home videos, often played as if being rewound, reflexively displaying the marks of its making, such as the addition of seemingly VHS static, haunting and always poetic. The real videotape at the center of the news story of Latasha's death is never shown here, on the other hand. Ultimately, "A Love Song for Latasha" isn't about her death; it's about the character and aspirations of a 15-year-old girl whose life was tragically cut short.

I ended up watching this because I am working my way through the Oscar nominations. I knew nothing about the subject matter. The 19 minutes pf this work are very lyrical-abstract animation is even used-and the underlying story is one of raw emotional power. The short fulfills its title as it is largely a remembrance about Latasha by her friends and family. No time is spent on the larger context-it is singularly about Latasha in herself. The film is admirable in that regard but I wish there was like a minute of larger context to bookend the core of the short. It feels like a very well done home movie.

This story is so painful and sadly, familiar 20 years later.

I think that Latasha sounds incredible and I think this documentary does a great job at painting a picture of her and like the woman in the documentary said Latasha is often reduced to just a headline. I think this documentary is a fantastic counter to that and really shows the person she was.

This is a sad watch. It's sad what happened to her, it's sad what happened to her loved ones and it's sad that it still happens today. The end lines of text after the movie finishes is are just the final punch to the gut. It really is Appalling.

Unfortunately I think that the filmmaking does hinder this documentary at times. It's a little scattered and for lack of another word, strange.

It is sort of art house-y and has so many effects on it. You don't see the faces of anyone talking for the first half of the documentary so it can be confusing who is actually telling the story. I think all this just gets in the way.

This doesn't completely ruin the film I just would have personally preferred them to focus more on the story and not reversing footage and like editing every shot to the hilt.