Residue

9/10/2022

I like that Residue is a protest film that dothn’t protest too much. Jay (Obinna Nwachukwu) is a young filmmaker who returns home after many years away to write a screenplay about his childhood, only to find his neighborhood unrecognizable. By the same token, he’s practically a stranger to his former friends and possibly even his parents. Jay’s lost childhood is symbolized by his former best friend Demetrius, whom he keeps asking about throughout the film only to receive evasive, hostile answers. The editing, fragmented but not disjointed, contributes to Jay’s sense of disorientation. Writer/director Merawi Gerima is firmly against gentrification, but Residue is not arousing call to arms so much as a purely subjective, individualistic record of his displeasure. As a twofold document