7.4 /10 1 Votes
84% Rotten Tomatoes Written by Kathleen Collins Running time 86 minutes Initial release June 1982 (USA) Screenplay Kathleen Collins Cinematography Ronald K. Gray | 6.3/10 IMDb Directed by Kathleen Collins Music by Michael Minard Country United States Director Kathleen Collins Music director Michael Minard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date June 1982 (Irvington, NY) Cast Bill Gunn, Seret Scott, Duane Jones, Gary Bolling, Maritza Rivera Similar Hits, Henry's Crime, The Kitchen, Paris Model, Sherman's Way | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Losing ground trailer new release
Losing Ground is a 1982 film written and directed by Kathleen Collins starring Seret Scott, Bill Gunn, and Duane Jones. It is the first feature-length drama directed by a black American woman and won First Prize at the Figueroa International Film Festival in Portugal, garnering much international acclaim. Both films were shot in Rockland County, New York, and are currently being distributed by Milestone Films.
Contents
Plot
Sara Rogers (Seret Scott) is a well loved professor who teaches courses on logic. She is married to Victor, a successful painter. To celebrate the sale of one of his paintings to a museum, Victor decides to rent a house for the summer where he can paint. Sara is annoyed at his plan because she wanted to spend the summer in the city researching a paper she is writing on ecstatic experiences and knows that her access to books will be limited in a small town. She feels as though Victor doesn't value her work in academia compared to his work as an artist. Nevertheless, after finding a house they both adore she agrees to go with him for the summer.
At the rented house Victor becomes obsessed with painting local women, befriending one in particular, a Puerto Rican woman named Celia. Jealous, Sara goes back to the city for a few days to act in a student film that one of her students has begged her to participate in. She meets Duke, the filmmakers uncle, who plays her love interest in the movie and who is immediately attracted to her.
Sara brings Duke up to the rented house where Victor is immediately jealous of him. Victor is also jealous when his friend and mentor Carlos starts flirting with Celia. In the morning, seeing Victor aggressively playing around with Celia, Sara grows angry and tells him to stop his flirting in front of her. Leaving him, she talks to her mother on the line saying she feels out of control and on shaky ground despite being known for her steady contemplative nature.
Returning to the city, Sara completes her final scenes of the film. Victor goes to find her and arrives to watch in time as her character shoots Duke's character for being unfaithful to her.
Cast
