My difficulty in really understanding what I liked about this film and what I got out of it and what the intent was and the reflexive nature of Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play requires me to have have some time of reflection myself, but in an attempt to brute force it in a stream of consciousness way similar to how director and playwright Jeremy O. Harris approaches writing may be the best course of action here just so I can process and think - all with several tabs open as well.
Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. feels both documentary and experimental art in of its own right. The recursive nature of the film is interesting. Whether or not Harris has seen Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, he has definitely tapped into the same mind worm of a mirror up to a mirror that that film has with this. The examination of the play Slave Play doesn’t quite hit a level of self-critique - or if it does, it isn’t presented in a way that is wholly apparent to an audience immediately. Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. seems to have similar goals as Slave Play itself, but this time with a more mature and examined lens. Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. mimics the three act structure of the play that it is adapting from/inspired by/documenting. which makes me feel that the goal is to unsettle a white audience, sure, but more gently and less provocative this time around. It definitely feels like Harris wishes to be more meditative here and this time more clearly invite his black audience to be similarly reflective.
Having been familiar with the controversy and the accolades and the criticism of Slave Play beforehand but never really being all too familiar with its intricacies and plot and nuance prior, watching it all unfold in Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. in the way it does was engrossing. The layers upon layers that are built upon and broken up and then peeled back makes for incredible cinema. The three act structure, as I mentioned before, does feature moments from the parts of the play that share the same name. However, with Harris’ additional commentary and then the “looking at the edit” segments in the third act, that is where it becomes more clear to me that this is addressing criticism and perhaps even Harris’ own shortcomings in his exploration and writing all while examining the need for the film to be doing something different and saying a little bit more than just repeating the same points and highs and lows of the play itself.
My difficulty in really understanding what I liked about this film and what I got out of it and what the intent was and the reflexive nature of Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play requires me to have have some time of reflection myself, but in an attempt to brute force it in a stream of consciousness way similar to how director and playwright Jeremy O. Harris approaches writing may be the best course of action here just so I can process and think - all with several tabs open as well.
Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. feels both documentary and experimental art in of its own right. The recursive nature of the film is interesting. Whether or not Harris has seen Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, he has definitely tapped into the same mind worm of a mirror up to a mirror that that film has with this. The examination of the play Slave Play doesn’t quite hit a level of self-critique - or if it does, it isn’t presented in a way that is wholly apparent to an audience immediately. Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. seems to have similar goals as Slave Play itself, but this time with a more mature and examined lens. Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. mimics the three act structure of the play that it is adapting from/inspired by/documenting. which makes me feel that the goal is to unsettle a white audience, sure, but more gently and less provocative this time around. It definitely feels like Harris wishes to be more meditative here and this time more clearly invite his black audience to be similarly reflective.
Having been familiar with the controversy and the accolades and the criticism of Slave Play beforehand but never really being all too familiar with its intricacies and plot and nuance prior, watching it all unfold in Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. in the way it does was engrossing. The layers upon layers that are built upon and broken up and then peeled back makes for incredible cinema. The three act structure, as I mentioned before, does feature moments from the parts of the play that share the same name. However, with Harris’ additional commentary and then the “looking at the edit” segments in the third act, that is where it becomes more clear to me that this is addressing criticism and perhaps even Harris’ own shortcomings in his exploration and writing all while examining the need for the film to be doing something different and saying a little bit more than just repeating the same points and highs and lows of the play itself.
