Black Joy — Black Joy( \Blu Ray)
Released in 1977 Black Joy was the fourth feature film directed by London born Anthony Simmons- whose career often saw him using London as a focus going from documentaries about London life- like 1954’s Bow Bells, which followed east end life set to a music hall tunes, 1957’s Blood Is Life- looking at blood donation & transfusion in the capital, and 1976’s Greenwich: A People's Heritage- which is really self explanatory. His feature film work saw him go from 1960’s brit farce of Your Money or Your Wife, onto gritty 1960 kitchen sink drama of Four In The Morning, onto 1973’s whimsical though bittersweet The Optimists of Nine Elms- which saw Peter Sellers playing a retired street musician who befriends two London Children. Between the late 1970s & the mid-1990s, he mainly focused on British TV- be it series episodes or TV movies, he only made one other feature film 1989’s Little Sweet Heart- a killer child thriller.
From the outset you can certainly see Simmons documentary origins, with its use of camera & unflattering angles- as we see the films lead Ben(Trevor Thomas)- a naïve Guyanese immigrant making his way through Uk Customs, out onto the streets of Brixton looking for his family member. He passes through the areas busy street markets, into the local butchers, down through abandoned & demolished house blocks. Fairly soon, after his wallet is stolen by a young boy, he meets small-time crook/ hustle Dave - played by Norman Beaton, who later found fame in British black Sitcom Desmonds. Fairly soon Dave is conning Ben out of the little money he has left, before getting him to work as a dustbin man to pay for his food & lifestyle. Dave is is also connected with & sleeping with Miriam- played by Floella Benjamin- who will be known to many Brits of a certain age as one of the presenters on children show Playtime. She runs a soul food café, has a young son- who it turns out was the boy that stole Ben’s money. The films haphazard plot follows the growth in confidence of Ben, with his life in London, meeting women, and finding happiness.
I’ve always been a sucker for British films from the 1970’s- as it’s the decade I was born & grew up in, and Black Joy certainly shows another side of Britain in the 1970s than I’d rarely seen before. For the most part, it’s well acted & staged- at times it can be a little difficult to understand the more rapid Afro-Caribbean tinged English of a few of the characters- but for the most part you can understand what’s going on. The films fittingly soundtracked with a blend of reggae, upbeat soul, and R& B- and we get some nice & sweaty live performance along the way from bands & DJs. On the whole I enjoyed Black Joy, and found it’s blend of documentary portrayal of Brixton, drama, humor & music rewarding- I guess if I could criticize one thing it would be the often jarring & shifting tone of some editing/ scene cutting- as you often wonder which characters we're with now, or how does the onscreen setting relates to the character.
Moving onto this recent Blu Ray- first off the picture looks good enough, still retaining it’s 70’s grain & grim- yet the general color scheme & balance looks good. Extra wise we get a fair bit of stuff- first off we get three stand-alone, recent on-camera interviews with the cast- these each run between seventeen & eight minutes apiece- there with Trevor Thomas, Floella Benjamin, and Oscar James – who played one the film's gangster.
Next, we get a thirty-three-minute interview with Jamal Al- who wrote the original play Black Joy was based on-it seems him discussing his wider career, his plays, and how he adapted his play for the screen. Next, we get two crew interviews- these each run between nine & fourteen minutes- ones with Martin Campbell who produced the film, and the others with Phil Méheux the film's director of photography, discussing the often documentary look of Black Joy. We get a three minute short, bringing together clips from the film, and identifying the areas/ streets in Brixton where Black Joy was filmed. We get Simmons twenty minute documentary Bow Bells, and ninety-nine audio-only interviews with Simmons- this is from 1997 and sees him discussing his whole career. So a good, worthy & interesting selection of extras.
In conclusion, if you enjoy, gritty & character-driven drama then I think Black Joy will hit a note with you- also of course if your interesting to seeing how London, has changed & developed over the years both cultural & architecturally you’ll also find some interest here. All in all another great reissue of another fairly unique & distinctive film from Powerhouse.