Moments Without Proper Names

Hate to come across as Freddy Philistine here, especially in the face of such obvious visual/literary artistry, but I'm immediately suspicious of a retrospective on the life of the first notable, American, black film maker that largely leaves out the film making! How come scenes from "Learning Tree" make the cut but not "Shaft" or, dare I even say it? "Superfly"? Is Parks ashamed of being a pioneer of the Blaxploitation movement? If so, why? Is he saying that the Hollywood part of his life is somehow extraneous to the rest of it? If so, then that's kinda pretentious, isn't it?

Bottom line: An incomplete or, if you're less kind, a beautifully superficial retrospective. Solid C.

Avery Brooks, Joe Seneca, and Roscoe Lee Brown read from the writings of Gordon Parks, while images from Parks' photography alternate with the speakers.

Parks is best known for directing SHAFT, but before then he had had a long and varied career, including photographer and writer; his first major movie, THE LEARNING TREE, was from his own novel. The writings these three fine actors recite are from fiction and non-fiction, but they capture in words what his photographer's lens sees, and by putting them into words, strengthen them.

I don't consider this particularly cinematic, but it is enormously powerful and moving.