Trivial notes on Baldwin's Nigger and Pickpocket
Baldwin's Nigger, dir. Horace Ove
Thrilling as it was to see James Baldwin in full flow, I found myself concentrating on his audience of young West Indians, crowded into some nondescript flat in London--with little flags of Caribbean territories lined up on the mantel. I scrutinised the audience shots, wondering if I might recognise any faces--and was amused when a portly, balding fella, English to all appearances, stood up to ask a question & with his first words was revealed as a Trini. Best of all: Andrew Salkey--twitchy, smoking, fiddling with a notebook--sitting two places away from Baldwin, on his right. (And was that Michael X between them?)
Pickpocket, dir. Robert Bresson
Moral: all Parisians are sexy, even the ugly, badly dressed ones.
Favourite line: "I used to believe in God, Jeanne--for three minutes."
Thrilling as it was to see James Baldwin in full flow, I found myself concentrating on his audience of young West Indians, crowded into some nondescript flat in London--with little flags of Caribbean territories lined up on the mantel. I scrutinised the audience shots, wondering if I might recognise any faces--and was amused when a portly, balding fella, English to all appearances, stood up to ask a question & with his first words was revealed as a Trini. Best of all: Andrew Salkey--twitchy, smoking, fiddling with a notebook--sitting two places away from Baldwin, on his right. (And was that Michael X between them?)
Pickpocket, dir. Robert Bresson
Moral: all Parisians are sexy, even the ugly, badly dressed ones.
Favourite line: "I used to believe in God, Jeanne--for three minutes."
posted by Nicholas Laughlin at 1:22 PM
2 Comments:
Yes, was that indeed Michael X? Che seemed to think it was....
I was late but I remember seeing Michael X in the crowd...funny that so little is known or said about him in the country of his birth and death.
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