A young filmmaker returns home after many years away, to write a script about his childhood, only to find his neighborhood unrecognizable and his childhood friends being scattered to the wind.
Merawi Gerima’s film debut “Residue” accomplishes what many storytellers strive for – creating impact and lasting impressions on issues that matter to them. However, “Residue” is not just about a broad discussion on gentrification and its impact on a community, but it is a journey of a young man who unintentionally exchanges his place in his hometown for opportunities shrouded in privilege and socioeconomic advantages.
Obinna Nwachukwu stars as Jay, a bright-eyed and hopeful filmmaker who recently graduated from college and travels back to his hometown in the hopes of collecting enough narratives to create a film dedicated to the essence of his black neighborhood in Washington D.C. However, his aspirations are quickly dashed when he realizes that his childhood friends are unwilling to indulge in his questions and divulge any significant time in his company. Although Jay tries to make sense of the subtle ostracization, he is further challenged by the increasing number of white residents that move into the neighborhood and the constant disruptive behavior of real estate agents trying to buy his family’s home. It is one thing for Jay to adapt to the uprooting of his neighborhood and its black residents, but it is another to experience the uprooting of his identity by the peers who claim he abandoned them.
“Residue” is a demonstration of how black individuals not only suffer from socioeconomic discrimination in their communities, but it shares the experience of how the collision of too many conflicts, both a personal and political level, can tear down their identities. Not only has Jay become disillusioned in the relationships he thought he had built so strongly from his childhood, but the physicality of his neighborhood was changing into something he could not recognize. There were cops tracking his every interaction alongside white neighbors shitting on his front yard in both a literal and figurative sense, both of which ruin the film he envisioned to produce for his neighborhood.
Nwachukwu excels in portraying Jay’s internal struggle to reestablish his connection to his hometown neighborhood while showcasing the frustration in the helplessness of his external conflicts. Despite a growing wariness between Jay and his peer Delonte (Dennis Lindsey), Nwachukwu and Lindsey share chemistry onscreen that comes across as the solidarity between black individuals when faced with a greater adversary. It is bittersweet to realize that this is the image black people face in their daily lives where the community becomes the only solidifying force to fight against a broken system. It is more heartbreaking to witness Jay make this realization after having gone to college and coming back with illusions of change and hope through media representation that does not necessarily guarantee a change in the system. Perhaps this is where Merawi Gerima comes from with this film, expressing a cynicism against the naivete of young people but nevertheless empowering their actions that will constantly resurrect a hope that stokes the flame for change.
“Residue” has a moody undertone in its own right due to its address of a darker theme underlying American society. The film carries itself with the production techniques that transitioned between the ’90s till now, parallel to the transition from black to whiter neighborhoods. Yet, it was the color Blue that left the most lasting impression of the film. It was blue inside Jay’s head, muddled with memories and the loss of a friend by a system that fails black people. It was blue when the cops showed up. It was blue when an emotional loss reached its climax and it is blue where the film will leave you with your feelings – an uncomfortable confrontation but a necessary realization that black voices are strong, but there has yet to be a system ready to hear them.
With all this in mind, “Residue”’s timing is impeccable. If there is anything to take from the film, it would be the lasting emotional impression that will hopefully encourage American audiences to vote in the upcoming election.
Now playing in Select Theaters and on Netflix
