Description
Made in 1977 as a thesis project at UCLA but never commercially released because of legal battles over music rights, Killer of Sheep was declared a national treasure and has been named one of the “100 essential films of all time” by the National Society of Film Critics. Shot over a series of weekends near Burnett’s family home in Watts, Killer of Sheep examines the black Los Angeles ghetto in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse. Burnett’s handheld camerawork, episodic narrative and gritty documentary-style cinematography pay an aesthetic debt to European art cinema, while presenting a poetic look at the ravages of American urban poverty. The beautifully restored black and white print has a stunning soundtrack that includes Etta James, Dinah Washington, Gershwin, Rachmaninov, Paul Robeson and Earth, Wind & Fire. (83m)
Claim this listing
Comments