User Reviews

The Watermelon Woman (1996) was written and directed by Cheryl Dunye. Dunye also stars. The film introduction included the information that this was the first movie to be directed by an openly lesbian Black director.

We learned that Dunye was a film student who wanted to make a documentary about Black women in 1930's movies. Except for movies made for Black audiences, Black women were invariably cast as servants or slaves. Very often their names didn't appear in the movie credits.

Rather than actually doing the documentary, Dunye made a narrative film about a woman (herself) trying to make the documentary. It sounds strange, but it makes sense when you're watching it.

We saw the movie at Rochester's wonderful Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum. It will work well enough on the small screen. It's not a movie for everyone, but it's an important film, and worth seeing.

There are hundreds upon thousands of lesbian movies, and the majority are labelled "Adult". Name one lesbian movie about black women that isn't pornographic? Watching this one was something I could relate to. Finally, a movie touching on black history, interracial attraction, stereotypes, and the fictional day-in-the-life of an aspiring film-maker. More original than most, speaking as a black woman. Excuse the bad technology, and you've got a story about a woman researching her black history and getting laid in the process! Maybe she couldn't get the rights to do "The Aunt Jemima Story". You know, that black maid who's face stared back at you from the pancake box, having gone through a few make-overs through the years? There's even a scene where Cheryl holds up movie stills of black actresses playing the usual slave/maid who become unknowns in the process. Well, this is one important movie for me, and I hope more people appreciate this as they listen to Cheryl's closing monologue. Now this movie deserves a remake!

6/10

A cause for celebration, this 20th Anniversary DVD release. The Watermelon Woman was a revelation back in 1996 and it is -- shame on us -- perhaps even more to-the-point today.

Seated by myself at the Film Forum here in NYC, 1996, a gay non-Black guy, I was expecting a variation on the Melvin Van Peebles satire from the early seventies, The Watermelon Man. But a mere five minutes into The Watermelon Woman, I knew I was in the presence of something special, indeed. Here was a tsunami of vivid, fresh air.

Cheryl Dunye -- writer, director, star -- had created something utterly new. Here she was, placing a Black Lesbian at the center, unapologetic about her same-sex longing and needs, about her rich magnetic Blackness, her fierce yet tender femaleness. For me, used to seeing Lesbians or gay men like myself held up for mockery or derision or contempt, it was a revelation to see Lesbians portrayed as just part of the human tapestry, regular people making it through the day, paying bills, falling in and out of lust and love.

For that alone, The Watermelon Woman deserves high praise. But it is about so much more. For Ms. Dunye uses her Blackness to probe an America which has never come to terms with its deep racist history. Ms. Dunye confronts it with wit and candor. Her character is researching a beautiful Black actress from the 1930s, who never received a credit in her films. It's like she never existed, a mere celluloid presence, nothing more.

As she probes deeper into the actress's past, Ms. Dunye begins peeling away her own reality. As both a Lesbian and a Black woman, in an America which marginalizes Lesbians, Blacks, women. She is forced to question assumptions about what it means to be a Lesbian and both a woman and a woman of color.

And here is where The Watermelon Woman becomes as timely as it was back in 1996. For in confronting her own marginalization, Ms. Dunye makes crystal clear why today's Black Lives Matter is so important to today's America. Like any work of art -- and make no mistake, The Watermelon Woman is a work of art, indeed -- meanings change over time. And though Black Lives Matter hadn't yet become a rallying cry, its genesis is inherent in The Watermelon Woman.

Cheryl Dunye, you and The Watermelon Woman are a oner!

This is a very lighthearted film about a black video store clerk (Cheryl Dunye) who wants to make a documentary about an early black actress, known only as The Watermelon Woman." The fact that both Cheryl (Dunye) and the actress are lesbians keeps her going. In fact, in life imitating art, Cheryl finds that The Watermelon Woman was having a lesbian relationship with a white director, and then, she begins a relationship with a white video store customer (Guinevere Turner - American Psycho, Itty Bitty Titty Committee).

The film explored black language, early black actresses, black lesbians, mammies, and watermelon. It even featured an interview with Camille Paglia discussing mammies and watermelon in the context of blacks and Italians, It's nice to see Italians spoken of in something other than the Mob.

Her BFF Tamera (Valarie Walker) is a party girl, but she draws the line at interracial relationships, and that causes a problem for Cheryl.

There are a lot of good scenes throughout the movie, and it made it worthwhile even if the acting wasn't particularly good.

The end credits will surprise you.

When we first see clips of old film actor Fae Richards, the person the protagonist (Cheryl Dunye) is researching, it's immediately apparent that she's fictional, and I initially thought it was an unfortunate choice. But as it played out, it hit me: what does it say when a black lesbian director invents this person, and the researcher has a hard time finding information on her? Probably that there simply was not adequate representation, and that history is usually whitewashed. At the end of the credits, the line "Sometimes you have to create your own history" gave me goosebumps. Along the way there are things on the surface that will undoubtedly draw reactions - the wildly uneven acting and indie production value, and a sex scene that seemed restrained and erotic to me but which unfortunately drew the ire of conservatives in Congress. Aside from the representation the film gives us, it's filled with things that critique the world this woman lives in. There's the obvious barb in the fictional actor being dubbed "Watermelon Woman" and being famous for her role in "Plantation Memories." Another is the librarian explaining to her that she should check the "black reference" files for the old film star, and the silent little look she exchanges with her friend. There's also the white film professor explaining how modern black scholars have it wrong relative to the offensiveness of the "mammy" figure, which was brilliant. It comes within the community too; when her friend frowns upon the relationship she's having with a white woman, she says it's nobody's business who she's having sex with. Amen. Despite the choppiness of a few scenes which almost seem like parodies of themselves, I genuinely enjoyed this film. It's creative, empowering, and well-paced in its 85 minutes. There's also something pretty powerful about the message at its center.

There are themes and issues in this film that are obvious, but well defined and used - lesbianism, racism, interracial relationships.... and the ups and downs of working in a video rental shop. All that aside, I have to say that, for me "The Watermelon Woman" is all about obsession. Ah - obsession! The obsession in this case is our leading lady's obsession with a marginal black actress in black & white movies of days long gone by, credited in the films on as "The Watermelon Woman." Who was she... what was her real name... why was she someone to obsess upon? Our lovely leading lesbian begins a journey of body and mind to find the truth of the Watermelon Woman and her life. I tell you obsession is a wondrous thing... when you find something (or, if you're me, many things) to obsess on, your life will be filed with the richness of discovery.. and you'll never be a boring party guest. So, have a look at "The Watermelon Woman," who knows you may just find yourself obsessed. Super sweet.

Really great movie loved the documentary style seaming with the actual film fun characters great transitions inbetween shots and enjoyed how random some of the cuts or scene transitions are

The movie centers around a young African-American lesbian,who is researching

a old time actress nicknamed"The Watermelon Womam"who is very similar to

her.This is a good film documentary.Ms.Dunn does a good job filming the movie along with making it work with the cast. This movie doesn't come up short to me,and serves its purpose.it never gets off the storyline,and has one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.The director challengers both race and sexuality makes this film more remarkable.Dealing

with the fact that she is having a relationship that is straining her friendship because of race. The director takes us into her point of view.Her lifestyle.Her way of thinking.And most of all,her life.Also learning about a woman who like her,had a inter race relationship,and who also was an actor.

The Watermelon Woman (1996) -

I suppose that as a homosexual white British man, I probably wasn't exactly the target audience for this Black, Lesbian film from the U. S., although that in itself goes against my belief that people should explore genres out of their comfort zone, because otherwise they will never know if there is more to life. I could certainly see the appeal of this one for some and the message it was trying to get out. I just didn't like the sex scenes very much (Eek Boobies!).

For the most part, the story was fictionalised and the title character of "The Watermelon Woman" was a vehicle to discuss the injustices of racial bigotry in the world of cinema since the dawn of it's creation and to a certain extent the rest of the time since too.

Although this film did indicate some essence of racism towards white people, for the fact that they allegedly can't understand the persecutions faced by the black community and I wondered if that was deliberate or something that was a missed irony.

The lead character Cheryl played by the writer and director Cheryl Dunye wanted to track down the movements of The Watermelon Woman's past to find out what had happened to her and she studied the golden age of cinema in order to do so. Her journey was quite interesting. I did have to wonder if the whole film might have actually been better if it was presented as a documentary, about actual, real actors of the past that weren't given their dues accordingly.

There was a mention of Hattie McDaniel included here. She was famously snubbed at the Oscars when she went to receive her award for the part of Mammy in 'Gone With The Wind' (1939) and was made to sit in another room and only allowed to enter the main area for the presentation of her statue. Her story was partly covered in the TV series 'Hollywood' (2020) and I'm sure that wasn't delivered wholeheartedly or completely truthfully, because it was a very glamourised interpretation of the early years of Hollywood anyway and it dared to conceive an idea that perhaps these prejudices and things should have been exposed much earlier for their idiocy.

I did say that it might have worked better as a documentary, because I could see that Cheryl was obviously passionate about her message, but the acting really wasn't the best and the film quality was quite poor too, not even just the bits where it was filmed on an old video camera. There were some cheap and odd editing choices and many of the characters were a tad unfriendly while others were perfectly odd including the "Professor" and the C. L. I. T. volunteer (Sarah Schulman).

The style of it actually reminded me of 'Tangerine' (2015), a trans/drag film which was filmed entirely on a smart phone. There were similarities in the direction and the attempt at realism, but this film was far less obnoxious of course, because 'Tangerine' was vile.

It also had a hint of 'Not Another Gay Movie' (2006) too. Those producers, etc must surely have taken inspiration from this film, because the video shop was almost identical.

Not really my thing, but I would definitely recommend it to the appropriate people, because I know some that would appreciate it for its various plus points.

606.19/1000.

Caught this on TCM a few days ago, and I was completely struck by the dope honesty of this experience. Sure it's not real life, but it's something so like it distilled into a romp of exploration. You are in on the mystery and detective work of historical research as both you and Cheryl Dunye (the character) find out together the elusive truth of The Watermelon Woman. A bravura accomplishment of pro filmmaking that succeeds without the varnish or tarnish thereof.

Cheryl is a worker in a video store, with a video business on the side. she meets Diana in the video store, and that's the start of the adventure. lots of filming, lots of chit chat, bumming around town while Cheryl asks family, friends, and local experts what they know about the "watermelon woman", from old hollywood. very loosely based on the stories of Dorothy Arzner, and/or early, black actresses. some conflicts... between Cheryl and her co-worker Tamara, and then between Cheryl and Diana. but the conflicts feel a little scripted; we never really find out the reason for the disagreements, or the resolution. it's an entertaining 90 minutes. some repetition, where she keeps showing the same scene from a black and while film that she adores. we see the struggles Cheryl has trying to track down an obscure figure from way back when. mostly well done. Written, directed, and starring Cheryl Dunye. She had done mostly short films up to now.

Charles Stewart: "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people." Elaine Stewart: "The Watermelon Woman" is a "classic" of "New Queer Cinema." "Gays & lesbians" and "people of color" are hot items in left/liberal culture nowadays, so perhaps this movie merits preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, but I doubt it. A young filmmaker (Cheryl Dunye) researches the career and personal life of a very obscure 1930s actress/singer. So?

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.

The Watermelon Woman is a unique film that's part fictional documentary and part drama with just a bit of comedy thrown in too. The movie is mainly focused on black lesbians in philly and follows one of them making a documentary on a famous black lesbian from the 30s. Going into this film I thought that I as a straight white guy wouldn't get much out of the film, but I was wrong. This film has a compelling story and powerful message anyone can learn from, just don't take your kids there is some slight nudity in the film, but other than that it's a must watch for everyone.

I thought this film would give us some background on the wonderful but unknown people who are in films. Instead it's a hog pos of no particular interest.

A lesbian african american woman coming to terms with her history in cinema but in american history as well. The movie does what some of my favorite movies do and relies on an investigative nature, focusing on a step-by-step process of figuring out a mystery, but it is not done in a thriller kind of the way it is very touching and sweet. You can tell that despite the fact the character created she is looking for is fictional, there is genuine care for those actresses, and i wouldn't be surprised if dunne also tried looking for one of them in real life. The dialogue is fresh and different, and like the best indies of that time, it relied on simplicity and felt real and unique as a lot of big studio movies felt. As this explores ideas of sexuality, racism, and african american history, in ways that hollywood would never try to do.