TONGUES UNTIED (1989)

“I was mute, tongue-tied, burdened by shadows and silence. Now I speak, and my burden is lightened, lifted, free.”

TONGUES UNTIED originally broadcast on PBS stations across America on July 16, 1991, as part of their “POV” (Point of View) series. It is an experimental documentary by Marlon Riggs talking about the alienation of gay people in American society, specifically gay Black men. And the subject of gay people being silenced is ironic because while reading old newspaper articles about TU’s original release I came across multiple sources saying that 18 of the 50 largest television PBS stations (markets) refused to air the film. And others didn’t show it until late at night. Including one that didn’t show it until midnight! But let’s not go off into the weeds about dim-witted program directors in 1991…is TONGUES UNTIED a good film? Yes, it’s quite good.

As mentioned earlier: TONGUES UNTIED is an experimental film and it did take my perfectly chiseled honky buttcheeks a few minutes to get into the rhythm of the free-style, poetic, street rapping approach the film used, but once I caught on, I dug it and even wished the film had been longer. At 54 minutes I felt like Marlon really only scratched the surface of his story. (Maybe this has already happened), but I would love to see much longer different documentary about Marlon Riggs and the subject matter and events talked about in TONGUES UNTIED. For example: he briefly talks about having full on anal sex with other boys at age 6! Like holy shit, that could be a full doc all to itself! And don't even get me started on the breakdown of different kinds of snaps! I could watch a 12-hour film about that.

I don’t want to give away too much, you should just see the movie for yourself, but there was one segment that I want to talk about. They’re talking about how gays are openly mocked and ridiculed in society and during this segment, there is a close-up shot of poet and activist Essex Hemphill simply looking into the camera. At the same time, they play clips of popular movies of the time using the f-word. It was very simply done and yeah, it’s kinda like that one scene from South Park, but I personally found it very upsetting because I remember seeing all of those movies back in the 1980’s and it never even crossed my adolescent mind at how hurtful it was. And now as I’m going back and re-visiting and reviewing older movies, I’m straight up shocked at how fucked up some of these mainstream films are. I’m talking about you, CROCODILE DUNDEE. Anyway, I just found that segment to be heartbreaking.

Sadly, TONGUES UNTIED is not for all audiences, but it deserves to be seen by all (adult) audiences.

Double-feature with PARIS IS BURNING.

[Update: It is not part of the film, but I included a screen capture of Marlon Riggs' obituary. He died in 1994 at age 37. It's sad to think about the positive impact he could have had if he had lived longer. We were all robbed.]

IN SEARCH OF NOAH'S ARK (1976)

Not to be confused with In Search of Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon or In Search of Captain Ahab’s Pequod, IN SEARCH OF NOAH’S ARK is the serious (I…think?) documentary about the real life search for a fictional ship. Serious or not, is IN SEARCH OF NOAH’S ARK a good film? Yeah, it was highly entertaining.

Things start out with some dude who kinda looks like a Muppet dressed up as a human telling us that “This may be the most incredible film you will ever see.” And I’m like holy shit, that’s a pretty big claim! After that, he starts talking about the story of Noah from the Bible. Quick version is, this dude long, long ago hears a voice telling him to make a big ass boat, then stick two of every critter on Earth on the boat (did that include non-saltwater fish critters?) and wait for a flood to cover the entire planet. He does and the flood comes and then like a few months later, the flooding recedes and the boat comes to rest on what would later be called Mount Ararat (in modern day Turkey). After that, his son has sex with his own mother, a.k.a. Noah’s wife. Whoops! Sorry, went too far into the Bible version. The Muppet guy stops the story before the sex part. So anyway, the rest of the film is the dude talking to various people about stories they’ve heard about the location of Noah’s Ark and various experts telling us that the story of the great flood is totally true or might be. No real substantial proof of anything is ever shown, but that just makes the film even more enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the story about the group of “atheists” physically attacking the wreckage of Noah’s Ark. That was awesome! Somebody should make a horror movie about atheists going to attack Noah’s Ark and accidentally waking up an ancient pre-flood wookalar-type critter with nasty, big, pointy teeth. I also like the part where the host calls the story of Noah “The greatest story in the Bible”. You’d think the story of Creation or even Jesus’ death / resurrection would probably be a little more important, but what do I know.

Anyway…quick pace, good editing, funny stories, awesome host (who would later go on to do a fantastic job as the voice on THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 and its awesome trailer), a dude in the credits who has nine (yes, nine) titles next to his name (somebody should make a documentary about that guy!), multiple grainy as fuck pictures that didn’t prove anything.

IN SEARCH OF NOAH’S ARK might not have been “the most incredible film” I’ve ever seen, but it was a fun watch and I would totally watch it again. Check it out. If you need me, I’ll be in my room researching some stuff for the sequel I'm writing, In Search of Noah’s Ark 2: In Search of the Tent Where Ham Banged Noah’s Wife.

Fun fact: according to different box office history websites, IN SEARCH OF NOAH’S ARK made a motherfucking ark-load of money upon its initial release back in 1976. Like enough to be in the Top 10 money makers of the year. Right up there with THE OMEN and the third Dirty Harry film! I would absolutely love to see a well-made documentary about the phenomenon around this film.