Sydney Film Festival – Once Upon a Time in Harlem (dir. William and David Greaves)
Like the best house gathering, Once Upon a Time in Harlem evolves and shifts throughout the affair. Guests effortlessly veer from one subject to another—before you even realise you’re no longer listening to a conversation about one thing, you’re engrossed in another one altogether. Some of the visitors maybe have a drink or two too many. Somebody sits at a piano, dismissing their talents before effortlessly tickling the ivories like they never stopped (hi, James Van Der Zee). People are impeccably dressed in suits and ties, caftans, turtleneck jumpers and party dresses, hair (those who still have it) to impress, ready for a good time full of reminiscence and love. Like a great dinner party or cocktail soirée, the guestlist has been finessed. For this documentary—directed by David Greaves from material filmed in 1972 by his father, the pioneering documentarian William Greaves who died in 2014—the guests just happen to have all been a part of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and ‘30s. It wouldn't be a hardship to have a good time there!
As I left the theatre, I noted to a friend that a film such as this is a real, genuine privilege to watch. Which maybe sounds silly, but it is! What an honour to be granted access into this once-in-a-lifetime experience some 50-odd years later. It casts a magic spell of sorts that could never be truly replicated by actors with perfect modern day dentistry dolled up in intellectual cosplay (we are in dire need of screenwriters with such wit and intelligence who could do them justice; smart cultural luminaries!). This opportunity to witness history is one of the reasons why I love documentary so damn much. With Greaves’ camera capturing not such the richness of his subjects’ conversations, but the richness of their whole lives told with the lines of their face, the grey in their hair and the quivers in their ageing voices. The sound of experience, surrounded by the artifacts and products of lives lived, and the knowledge that you truly did something that will stand the test of time, filmed warmly and intimately in a cinéma vérité style by their contemporary cultural kin.
This is such a special film. Honestly one of the finest I’ve seen in a very long time—documentary of otherwise. Its guests, corralled into the home of jazz legend Duke Ellington on a balmy August afternoon, discuss art and culture, debate politics and activism, bicker and argue conflicting memories, recite poetry and exchange the wisdom gained not just from their time in the Harlem Renaissance, but also from being black in America through times of social upheaval. The stories they tell! From the jazz bars to Broadway in the city that was their home.
Seeing this at the State Library of New South Wales for the Sydney Film Festival was an appropriate one, mere steps away from a history’s worth of literature and life experiences all their own. The cinema walls decorated like they are lined with a thousand stories. Whether it inspires you to pick up a book or even just to host your own cocktail party (they appear to be drinking some sort of ruby grapefruit drink? looked delicious whatever it was!) I think that would be perfect. This is a film made to make you think and consider and look at our world and everything in it—from the prose of a novel to the humanity of a stranger—perhaps just a little bit differently.
I could probably list some of my favourite moments but that’s not really the sort of review I feel I need to write. I simply want you to see it! I will shout out the fabulous James Van Der Zee again whose photographs occasionally punctuate the action, society editor Gerri Major, and maybe most prominently the fabulously queer Richard Bruce Nugent. The latter has a fabulous story about the late Langston Hughes during its end credits that you absolutely must stay for. All of these people are now gone, which only seeks to underline how exceptional this event was. The full party of four hours, captured by the senior Greaves with a small camera and sound crew. We only see 100 of those minutes. I can’t imagine there being another 100 minutes of film this year being this entertaining. This enriching. This inspiring. “Miles and miles of memories”, you bet. Memories I am pleased to have now been given the opportunity to witness for myself. What a pleasure!
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