The Ruby is a catalyst for creativity and a home for making art at Duke.
The Ruby is a catalyst for creativity and a home for making art at Duke.
Screening
“Bless Their Little Hearts”—New Restoration
Open To The Public
Unemployed, depressed and running out of options for supporting his family, Charlie Banks (Nate Hardman) is just barely eking out a living in Watts at the dawn of Reagan’s 80s. "Bless Their Little Hearts" is a striking portrait of working poverty, and a classic of 80s independent cinema.
Film Theater at the Rubenstein Arts Center 2020 Campus Drive Durham,
NC
27705
Description
Bless Their Little Hearts (Billy Woodberry, 1984, 80 min, DCP)
The vaunted history of the L.A. Rebellion hit a high point with Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep (1977) and hit another with Bless Their Little Hearts seven years later. Working with a screenplay by Burnett, Billy Woodberry brings to life this portrait of a married couple and their three young children whose emotional resources are drained by the precarious effects of underemployment. Woodberry’s supremely observant style suits his exquisite work with actors; Nate Hardman’s quietly explosive, self-pitying performance makes explicit the delicate ties between stable employment and masculine self-worth; and Kaycee Moore (Killer of Sheep, Daughters of the Dust) gives an exceptionally nuanced performance as the family’s primary emotional laborer. Full of humor and devoid of the least pity for its characters, Bless Their Little Hearts is a striking portrait of working poverty in Reagan’s 80’s, and a classic of independent cinema.
“This wonderful neo-realist look at a working-class black family in South Central LA is worthy of being placed alongside Burnett’s Killer of Sheep. Passionately recommended.” Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader