Losing Ground

A dramedy from 1982 by the late filmmaker Kathleen Collins. Spanning a summer where a professor has taken a sabbatical w/her artist husband. He, in turn, is inspired by the lovely women he comes across to sketch which irks his liberal minded frau who in turn agrees to star in one of her student's films where she meets a charismatic actor. Featuring a predominantly African American cast who are not playing pimps, gypsies or thieves, these well rounded people of the art world are an anomaly to what we as film fans have come to expect from these types of projects. Definitely a case of what could of been, this lumpy gem does has its faults (the acting by the lead actress is not very strong) but its sense of place & the people that inhabit it is fascinating. Look for Night of the Living Dead lead, Duane Jones, in probably one of his last performances as the actor who catches the instructor's eye.

Okay I've read reviews and about Kathleen Collins, but some of her directions leave me wondering "What the Hell", like the sleazy way the male student looked at her after the lecture.

And especially with Duke and the cape when he interrupted her reading in the library, and which I found farfetched, forced and unrealistic.

Plus it's summer time and who in the Hell wears a cape, much less during the summer in a glaring bit of bullmarlarky. Oh and what was his reasoning for being in a library in the first place? Plot holes that a cement mixer couldn't fill.

I'm glad that Kathleen Collins was able to produce this movie and as an African American I will admit that it has it's flaws. But I can't rate it as a bad drama, but it is also not a good drama due to the scripting of this old fart and with a younger woman who wouldn't pay him noind if it wasn't written into this movie. It would have been more believable had she been more age and looks appropriate.

I'm not even going to finish watching this as it follows the same lame avenues of old white men and women too young to be bothered.

So it went from a 5-6 to a weak 3.

Although I appreciate the significance of black cinema, I just couldn't get past the stiff, wooden acting. It was like they were just reading from the cue cards. She was not believable as a university professor. She mispronounced words and was a horrible, boring teacher. He was more believable as a painter. I ended up not caring about them or their marriage.

Production quality isn't the best but the story and acting is great. It definitely feels like a passion project for the first time director.

I'm glad for the previous review on IMDb because like that user I started the first few minutes of the film and was not impressed. I decided to give Losing Ground a second shot and am glad I did.

Losing Ground is the only feature length film by director Kathleen Collins and only the 2nd feature length film to be directed by an African-American woman. Despite this the film never received significant attention during Collins' lifetime. It's a real shame because the movie is quite good. It's about a professor of logic (played by Seret Scott), named Sara who is married to a painter. Sara is regarded as beautiful but cold and clinical by everyone. And this rankles as she is married to a temperamental artist and has a free-spirited actress mother. Despite her professional success she is not really respected by her family, in particular her husband, who decides that they should take a country home for the summer so he can work despite the fact that it will make it nearly impossible for Sara access the library books she needs to complete her own work, a paper on ecstatic experiences. Throughout the film Sara tries to ignore her husbands flirtations and affairs which she chalks up to him needing as part of his own ecstatic experience, which she values for its freedom and artistry. But when she tries to let loose and pursue freedom for herself, conflict arises in her marriage.

The acting here is not always that great and neither is the audio. But when you lose yourself in the movie it has a lot to say about marriage, about logic vs creativity, men vs women, theory vs practice. There are also some beautifully framed shots that break my heart because they show how Collins was capable of true greatness if she had been able to create more.

Definitely worth giving a shot to this hidden gem, I hope more people watch and enjoy it.