KILLER OF SHEEP (1978)

When all of your time and energy is devoted just to staying alive, what is the point of any of this? This rediscovered classic doesn’t have answers but wants to show you people asking the same questions.

CAR WASH (1976)

A small but really interesting comedy about the workers on one long day at a car wash, with an ultra-famous disco track for a title song.

CROOKLYN (1994)

Spike Lee’s semiautobiographical depiction of his own childhood feels “true,” but really rubs me the wrong way.

HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE (1987)

Somewhere between a social satire and sketch comedy resides this weird late-80s time capsule that I thought was funny but not necessarily notable.

THE LEARNING TREE (1969)

The first ever studio movie from a Black director tells the semi-autobiographical story of its director growing up in 1920s Kansas, and I was actually pretty impressed with it as a movie.