Residue

Name: Residue
Genre: Drama
Released: September 17, 2020
Duration: 90 min
Rating: 82
Cast: Dennis Lindsey, Derron Scott, JaCari Dye, Jamal Graham, Julian Selman

2020

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 12 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 10 Ratings

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4.2

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Movie Details & Credits

ARRAY Releasing | Release Date: September 17, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Dennis Lindsey, Derron Scott, JaCari Dye, Jamal Graham, Julian Selman, Melody A. Tally, Obinna Nwachukwu, Ramon Thompson, Taline Stewart

Summary: A young filmmaker returns home after many years away, to write a script about his childhood, only to find his neighborhood unrecognizable and his childhood friends being scattered to the wind.

Director: Merawi Gerima

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 90 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

The Guardian Radheyan Simonpillai

Sep 17, 2020

Residue is a fleeting and haunting lament for what is lost to gentrification, and other tolls on black life in America. But at the same, it’s exhilarating and monumental, laced with the sensation that we’re discovering a bold and sensitive new voice. Read full review

Malik Adan

Sep 17, 2020

Residue is a delicately balanced film that lands its points while exploring these conversations from angles that are often unseen. Read full review

K. Austin Collins

Oct 8, 2020

Residue is the kind of movie to make you wonder what may have changed in D.C. during even the short span of its own making. Gentrification works quickly; it arrives buoyed by a whirlwind sense of the rug being swept from under residents’ feet. These are details Gerima builds into the movie based on his experience of leaving for just one year. Jay is returning after time in college. One can only imagine his shock. Read full review

Richard Brody

Sep 17, 2020

Gerima films Jay’s intimate confrontations with an impressionistic flair that focusses attention on characters’ listening, thinking, and remembering; flashbacks and dream sequences infuse Jay’s tightening conflicts with the pressure of history—both social and intimate. Read full review

John DeFore

Sep 17, 2020

Elliptical and teasingly (but beautifully) photographed, it can give the impression of an experimental work but ultimately has a direct story to tell, one whose specificity doesn't in the least diminish its broader relevance. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Sep 16, 2020

The bleak outlook of this story won’t be to every taste. But Residue brings a painful beauty to a real-life “whitewashing” of a city that will never let you look at gentrification from a realtor’s point of view ever again. Read full review

The Film Stage Matt Cipolla

Sep 17, 2020

A collage of distant memories and the realities that threaten them, Residue is an auspicious calling card for its filmmaker. Read full review

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User Reviews

JLuis_001

Mar 28, 2021

It's a story about gentrification, but it seemed quite linear to me, and I never understood its endgame.

The lead character has a purpose, that's clear, but the story does not give him relevant things to do, at least more active things to do beyond what he mixed with his memories andIt's a story about gentrification, but it seemed quite linear to me, and I never understood its endgame.

The lead character has a purpose, that's clear, but the story does not give him relevant things to do, at least more active things to do beyond what he mixed with his memories and nostalgia for something that simply no longer exists.

It's depressing to a certain extent, and clearly emotional, but I did not find it challenging as I read in some reviews from "professional critics."

For me, the question that the protagonist never asks himself is why after not being where he used to lived for so long, he never explore the notion that things would not be the same?

That's why he spends most of the film confused by his surroundings, trying to reconnect with his past life, meeting old friends who greet him from a distance and obviously don't have the same nostalgia he has.
And the character never crosses that threshold of acceptance.

The film is undoubtedly well done, and has well-made sequences taking into account that it's a debut.
This is a pretty solid debut, but the director failed to get his message to go beyond his protagonist's vision.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Brent_Marchant

Apr 22, 2021

This heartbreaking indictment of the downsides of gentrification evokes a decidedly powerful emotional response, but its disjointed storytelling approach leaves viewers wanting for greater clarity. When an aspiring Black screenwriter returns to the Washington, DC neighborhood where he grewThis heartbreaking indictment of the downsides of gentrification evokes a decidedly powerful emotional response, but its disjointed storytelling approach leaves viewers wanting for greater clarity. When an aspiring Black screenwriter returns to the Washington, DC neighborhood where he grew up to pen a script about his upbringing, he's overwhelmed by the many changes that have taken place since he left and moved to California, most notably the pronounced shift in local demographics and the scattering of his childhood friends. Memories of his past flood back as he attempts to process the situation, an experience that incites an incendiary slowburn. While director Merawi Gerima's attempt at putting an artistic spin on this story is noteworthy, the approach doesn't work much of the time, leaving audiences scratching their heads trying to figure out exactly what is going on. The mix of present-day action and flashbacks becomes so cumbersomely jumbled at times that it's easy to lose sight of -- and interest in -- what's transpiring on the screen. A number of story threads remain woefully underdeveloped as a consequence, despite the elegant cinematography employed to depict portions of them. This offering would have been far more impactful if a more straightforward narrative approach were employed, something this debut filmmaker may want to consider for future projects.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

grapesnacks

Oct 27, 2020

This movie demonises white people for living in an American city. Reverse the races, and people would call this movie out for its overt racism. Everyone, of every race, has the same right to live anywhere. If it's not right to keep black people out of white neighbourhoods (it definitelyThis movie demonises white people for living in an American city. Reverse the races, and people would call this movie out for its overt racism. Everyone, of every race, has the same right to live anywhere. If it's not right to keep black people out of white neighbourhoods (it definitely isn't), it's not right to demand that white people never again live in a neighbourhood once it has become majority black for any length of time. No one is entitled to have their mono-racial neighbourhood preserved for ever, and if they desire a mono-racial neighbourhood, they should ask themselves why they are so intolerant of other races and so hateful of true diversity.… Expand

4 of 6 users found this helpful42

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