1996 brought us Cheryl Dunye's debut feature. Toiling away at a videostore, Dunye, playing a character not too far from herself, comes across a little known black actress from the 30's who bills herself as the titular woman. Enchanted by the lack of information on the comely thespian prompts Dunye to gather information to make a documentary where she enlists her friends & contacts to flesh out this elusive creature who Dunye figures is in the family (a lesbian like she). Finally finding her lover who knew the woman when she retired, we & Dunye get the closure she finally deserves. Dunye makes the most of her modest budget (300K by the stats I found) w/the comedy throughout of the droll variety w/o being overly flashy. And you know corners were cut when Dunye's own mother shows up to play herself. Also starring Guinevere Turner (a screenwriter in her own right) playing Dunye's love interest & Camille Paglia plays herself in an interview segment.
Review of The Watermelon Woman
