Attendant (The)
- Director: Isaac Julien
- Producer: Mark Nash
CGiii Comment
Let down by some truly amateur visuals...there is a semblance of a good story - an opportunity wasted.
No trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
A young white man visits a gallery of old master paintings. When the museum closes, he stays behind, arousing the sexual fantasies of an older black museum attendant. In one of these fantasies, the 19th-century painting ‘The Slave Trade (Slaves on the West Coast of Africa)’ by French artist François-Auguste Biard metamorphosises into a group of leather-clad gay men.
With an activist’s commitment, Isaac Julien takes a look at the sexual and racist dynamics of power from a cultural-historical perspective. Made with the support of the Black Audio Film Collective (1982-1998) in a period under the sway of Thatcherism and the AIDS crisis, the film impressively and poetically explores the topics of imperialism, queer self-determination, lust and death. ra.
Cast & Characters
Thomas Baptiste as Attendant;
Cleo Sylvestre as Conservator;
John Wilson as Visitor;
Paul Bernstock as Player;
Roy Brown as Player;
Andy Denys as Player;
Stuart Hall as Player;
Hugo Irwin as Player;
Christian Jones as Player;
Deighton Kavarne as Player;
Hanif Kureishi as Player;
Edward Lam as Player;
Keith Lennon as Player;
Mike Phillips as Player;
Norman Rosenthal as Player