Killer of Sheep (1977)

I've learned to approach low-budget indies with trepidation. No matter how popular they are, they hang by a thread, most likely appreciated for just one or two reasons; if those reasons aren't enough for you, your viewing may well feel like a loss. This indie was actually an M.F.A. thesis project, costing $10,000 (about $44,400 in today's economy) and not seeing a remotely wide release until 2007, partly because of soundtrack rights issues. Given its bleakness, the filmmakers might have chosen not to use color even if they could afford it.

The title character is L.A. slaughterhouse employee Stan (Henry G. Sanders). He does not consider himself poor, knowing people who have it worse, but others expect him to either do something for more income -- be it legit work or crime -- or live an even more austere life, as by not investing in a car. I'm not sure he makes the best choice; his current situation negatively influences his relationship with his wife (Kaycee Moore) and kids.

If it sounds like I omitted a lot, it's because there's really not much to tell. This is a slice of life at its purest: no plot progression, no character development, just largely unremarkable episodes. The apparent point is that for someone like Stan, nothing much changes. He's bored, and by apparent design, so are the viewers.

Normally, I don't add a racial tag when no characters explicitly indicate the significance of someone's race, but a depiction of a dead-end life implies such. Nearly the whole cast is Black. When we finally meet a White woman, it's hard not to read some kind of differential into her interactions with others.

The opening confused me, because although we hear Stan talk, the visual focus is on his preteen or early teen son, and the next scene or two follows Stan Jr. I assumed Junior would be the protagonist. Frankly, I wish he were. At least kids are more prone to changes. The main thing we know about Stan Jr. is that he's not very comfortable with his peers' rough style; he cries pretty easily. Stan Sr., of course, is inadequately supportive.

That's hardly the most confusing aspect. Lacking an overarching plot, we get thrown into the midst of vignettes with little preparation. It often takes a minute to determine what's going on. Difficulty in making out the dialog doesn't help. I blame the audio quality rather than accents.

I'll grant that neither confusion nor the budget detracts from the realism. KoS does its presumable job of saying, "Being lower-class and Black in '70s L.A. sucks." But I kinda wish it went to greater extremes. If Stan had worse financial problems, fewer opportunities, more exposure to violent elements, or a more ruined marriage, it would have had a stronger impact.

The BBC had the gall to call this the 26th greatest American film. I refuse to see the rest of their list. As it is, the thing I like most about KoS is its 80-minute run. A bit longer and I'd have given up.