The Watermelon Woman (Restored 20th anniversary edition) [DVD]

This is an excellent film written, directed, and starring Cheryl Dunye. Part autobiography, part pseudo-documentary, the film follows the journey of a young filmmaker (Dunye), who is an ardent fan of movies from the 1930s and 40s that featured talented black actresses who were relegated to playing domestics in these films. She discovers most of them were uncredited, or in the case of Fae Richards, given credit only as "The Watermelon Woman." Such was the second-class treatment of black actors in those days.Intrigued by Fae Richards' performances and onscreen persona, Cheryl decides to make a documentary on the actress, and goes on a journey to interview people who knew Fae personally or professionally. Along the way, Cheryl discovers parallels between her life and Fae's. Both dated white women, which caused consternation in their community. Cheryl's girlfriend Diana only dated her because she was black; the two women had little in common, and best friend Tamara could spot this a mile away, voicing her disapproval. Martha Page was a prominent female director who directed Fae in some of her films. It is implied Martha dated Fae for the same reason Diana dated Cheryl. Fae's last partner, June Walker, has nothing but disdain for Martha and pleads for Cheryl to set things right and tell the truth about Fae's life. The film moves along at an easy pace, consisting of vignettes that combined together comprises a complete film that is funny, touching, sad and thought-provoking, even celebratory. I liked the ending because it's not your typical Hollywood happy ending. Not everything ends on a positive note for the young filmmaker, yet it's a very satisfying ending, and more realistic.An outstanding feature are the archival photos, clips and newsreels of Fae Richards. Cheryl Dunye and Zoe Leonard did a superb job creating the archival footage; it was so eerily accurate that I thought Fae Richards was an actual person. But she is a fictional creation of Dunye's imagination, an amalgamation of all black actresses of her era. The hairstyles, makeup and costumes are historically accurate in those clips and photographs. Fae's newsreels were shot in the same style and camera angles as actual newsreels of the 30s. The still photos emulated the style of George Hurrell, a master of Hollywood glamour photography in the 1930s and 40s. I can appreciate such painstaking detail for historical accuracy, and it's amazing that a limited-budget independent film did this so well. I've seen big-budget Hollywood period films where hair, makeup and costuming looked way too contemporary for the era--for example a film made in the 1960s that supposedly took place in the 1920s featured actresses with teased, oversized bouffant hair instead of marcel waves or short shingled bobs.I can see why this film won several awards, and why the Museum of Modern Art added "The Watermelon Woman" to its film collection. It has great historical significance, and stands out as being the first feature film directed by an African-American lesbian. This DVD features the newly restored and remastered version, with a crisp, clear picture. Included is a short film by Cheryl Dunye titled "Black Is Blue." "The Watermelon Woman" is a film you have to watch over and over again to catch all the subtleties. Every time I've watched it, I've discovered something new, and it's bound to generate dialogue after viewing. Highly recommended.

I truly enjoyed this movie. The characters were interesting and I wanted to know more about them. The mysterious search for the true identity and history of the "Watermelon Woman" kept the story going. I enjoyed the way this film is not completely categoriz-able, it feels part romance movie, part art film, part documentary, and part autobiographical. This multimodal approach was exciting. It is fabulous to see a film that is centered on Black lesbians and is not drowning in depressing stereotypes. It would be nice to see more queer and lesbian films as expertly and insightfully made, as well as funded.

I love everything about this. A crazy irony is that I worked at an independent LGBTQ video rental store in Dallas, TX when this movie was released in the late '90s, just as this movie's main character does. The extra short film about trans folk is great too.

The Watermelon Woman 20th Anniversary Restoration I received is a data disc, and will not play properly on my Oppo or Tascam Blu-ray players. It's released by First Run Features. Unfortunate that DVDs are so old now that the knowledge to author them correctly has been forgotten by some. Data discs are made for computers, and are not the same as DVD-Video discs intended for Blu-ray players (what might be called "set-top decks".)

It's entertaining, complex, funny, thoughtful. It's just a rare and beautiful piece of art. I loved it. It'd be a great addition to any college film class syllabus in my opinion.

Bought this for a Comparative Literature class. Inexpensive, and a lot more convenient than trying to get it at a library or stream it online.

It’s a fantastic film for film buffs and people who’s interested in African American, LGBTQ, independent cinema.

This movie is so 90's, which I love. It's a great indie that offers a perspective we normally do not get to see in movies. Even now in 2020.

Very good

Mittelmäßige Schauspieler aber der Film wurde gut umgesetzt! Qualität ist Okay. Etwas mehr Erotik wäre nicht schlecht gewesen. In großen und ganzen kann man sich den Film aber anschauen!