I want to talk about memory and the superstitions of black folks, and I want to do it by looking at one of the forgotten masterpieces of American cinema.

Charles Burnett's quietly unsettling, To Sleep With Anger (1990).

In Jewish folklore, a "dybbuk" is an evil spirit that assumes the body of a dead person.

It's different than "being possessed" because in possession, a living person is controlled.

Here, a dybbuk searches for a spiritual vacancy and makes it their home until they're done.

Now, the prologue to A Serious Man (2009), is effectively a short film about a dybbuk.

In a 19th century, Eastern European village, a man enters his small home and excitedly tells his wife he just ran into a person she knows.

The wife becomes disturbed.

The situation becomes more ominous when the man explains he invited the person to their home. For soup.

At that moment, there's a loud knocking at the door and in comes the person, who is immediately confronted by the wife.

The dybbuk as an unwanted house guest.

In black lore, there is deep superstitions around house guest etiquette.

In To Sleep With Anger, Danny Glover plays Harry, a country charlatan, who shows up on the doorsteps of some old friends, claiming he's tired from his travels.

In black superstition, there is great reverence for (and fear of) a broomstick.

There's "jumping the broom" in marriages, but one superstition that my grandmother was very adamant about was that you do NOT sweep someone's foot.

Especially the feet of a house guest.

Burnett uses this broom superstition to introduce Harry as a dybbuk of sorts, to frame our understanding of him.

There's no relationship between this Black American and Jewish folklore. But, both are clear that these spirits (like the Devil) need to be welcomed into the home.

The movie is full of black superstitions and, although I caught many, I realize our knowledge of them is wilting.

Take this one on hair. I wonder if there's any partial lineage between it and

don't. touch. my. hair.

Knowledge of your community's superstitions and rituals feels essential.

In black rituals, the card game holds a special place.

But, I imagine that our inheritance of Spades and Bid Whist will be gone soon.

The amputation of our old rituals, superstitions and traditions from us also makes current issues feel untethered.

But, To Sleep showcases a toxic masculinity that's always been there.

[Harry telling Baby Brother to always have a second woman in case the first kicks you out.]

Like our superstitions that helped us navigate the world and that we're slowly forgetting, there's black filmmaking we're also forgetting.

Diversity in film criticism is important for representation. But, also, preservation of the forgotten

and that's what I'm committed to.

You know, I wish. But, my recollection is almost entirely from the oral tradition and I know there are things that even I'm forgetting.

Reason why we need more black films, specifically ones that deal with magical surrealism. https://twitter.com/tashalharrison/status/1019232878822031360?s=21

Bumping this because just saw that @Criterion is making this thing widely available next week and what a gift that is. https://twitter.com/criterion/status/1098712442312499205?s=21