The Black Sea
Contemporary Cinema
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1h 33m
Directed by Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden | 93 mins | 2024
A compassionate, convivial, and deeply humane improvised comedy from Moselle ("The Wolfpack", "Skate Kitchen") and co-director Harden, inspired by the latter’s own experiences, "The Black Sea" stars Harden—also providing original music under the name Dear Derrick—as Khalid, a charismatic barista from Brownsville, Brooklyn, who drops everything back home to meet up with a woman in Bulgaria… then finds himself stranded without a return fare or a passport, the one and only Black man in the seaside resort town of Sozopol. Likened to a “cinematic freestyle” by its directors, "The Black Sea" is a film of unexpected connections, happy accidents, and wistful romanticism, with Harden joined by Letters from Antarctica’s Irmena Chichikova as the local travel agent who becomes Khalid’s lifeline and a motley cast of non-professional locals giving performances packed with unpolished charm.
A Metrograph Pictures release.
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