Killer of Sleep
Kent Mackenzie's restored 1961 feature shows us one long, loud night with the Native Americans of Bunker Hill
By Andy Klein
Like Charles Burnett's 1977 Killer of Sheep – released last year to great acclaim after three decades on the shelf – Kent Mackenzie's The Exiles is a heretofore lost artifact of Los Angeles history, circa 1961. Both films received renewed attention after being included in Thom Andersen's 2003 documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself; and both were subsequently restored by the UCLA Archive and picked up for release by Milestone Films.
But the similarities run deeper than that. In reviewing Burnett's film last year, I wrote, "Influenced by Italian neo-realism, he shot on location with a largely nonprofessional cast; a number of shots appear to have been captured impromptu on the streets. But, less than most of the neo-realists, he avoids emotional manipulation almost entirely, never telling us how to respond, but simply presenting the material without comment."
With the exception of the "impromptu" part, that exactly describes The Exiles, which seems to take some cues from Fellini's early I Vitelloni, as well. Both films take a naturalistic, "slice of life" look at minority cultures usually ignored in Hollywood's gazillion portrayals of our home town. The first obvious difference, however, is that Burnett was a black Angeleno, describing the milieu he grew up in; Mackenzie (who died in 1980) was a British transplant, making a film about Native Americans.
After a brief narration about the Native American diaspora, we meet Yvonne (Yvonne Williams) and Homer (Homer Kish), who live together in a rundown building in the Bunker Hill district. (Just seeing Bunker Hill and Angel's Flight in the days before urban redevelopment completely changed the neighborhood's character is a thrill.) In some contexts, Homer seems like a nice guy, but he treats Yvonne, who is pregnant with his child, with casual disregard.
As night falls, Homer drops Yvonne at a movie theater and drives off for a night with his buddies: He and Rico (Rico Rodriguez) head for a poker game, while Tommy (Tom Reynolds) and Cliff (Clifford Ray Sam) cruise neighborhood saloons and pick up chicks. After various activities – drunken speeding, bar brawls, dancing – the four all end up atop Hill X, where a bunch of other locals are partying and nostalgically singing their tribal chants.
If the men express their class/ethnic frustrations through revelry, their attitudes leave Yvonne doubly oppressed. Homer is simply taking part in the expected machismo of his culture, but that doesn't make his offhandedly cruel treatment of Yvonne any less reprehensible.
Mackenzie tape recorded Homer, Yvonne, and Tom talking about their lives and then based the script on their stories. All three speak in voiceover, as the film cuts between them throughout the night. Mackenzie imposes no obvious attitude or mediating outsider's perspective on the material; he just presents it to us, a snapshot of an otherwise unknown culture, with details specific to its time and place.
In many ways, The Exiles is "slicker" than Killer of Sheep, with striking, harder-edged images. The cinematography seems more painstakingly worked out; and, with the exception of one three-minute flashback to Homer's childhood, Mackenzie packages his subjects' experience in a single night of their lives (filmed over two or three years, ironically). Still, for whatever reason, Killer of Sheep has stronger emotional impact.
There is one necessary caveat in approaching The Exiles: As in its Italian precursors, all the dialogue was looped in postproduction...often badly (unlike the Italian films). The looping may have been done chronologically, because it seems to get better with time, but the effect at the beginning is offputting.
The Exiles. Written and directed by Kent Mackenzie. With Mary Donahue, Homer Nish, Clydean Parker, Tom Reynolds, Rico Rodriguez, and Clifford Ray Sam. Opens Friday at UCLA's Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum.
Published: 08/13/2008
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