To Sleep with Anger **** (1990, Danny Glover, Paul Butler, Mary Alice, Carl Lumbly, Vonetta McGee, Richard Brooks, Sheryl Lee Ralph) – Classic Movie Review 11,697

Writer-director Charles Burnett’s 1990 film To Sleep with Anger is a beautifully realised domestic drama centring on Southerner Harry (Danny Glover)’s disruptive arrival in the peaceful house of a South Central Los Angeles African-American family.

To Sleep with Anger is a film of great warmth, wit and wisdom, perfectly performed and written, offering eagerly-grabbed acting opportunities, especially by Glover, who looks relieved that there is life after the Lethal Weapon series.

Also in the cast are Paul Butler, Mary Alice, Carl Lumbly, Vonetta McGee, Richard Brooks, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ethel Ayler and Julius Harris.

Gideon (Paul Butler) and his wife Suzie (Mary Alice) are happily surprised by a visit by their long-standing friend from the South, and insist he stay as long as he likes. Harry is a charmer, but he precipitates a crisis in the family, especially the younger son Samuel or ‘Babe Brother’ (Richard Brooks)’s relationships with his parents, wife, and older brother, Junior (Carl Lumbly).

It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’ in 2017.

It had a remastered home media release from the Criterion Collection on 26 February 2019.

The film won four Independent Spirit Awards: Best Director and Best Screenplay for Charles Burnett, Best Male Lead for Danny Glover, and Best Supporting Female for Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Burnett also won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay and the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,697

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