Chris Cherot interview

     Chris Cherot doesn't dress like someone who's trying to
impress anyone. This isn't to say that his look isn't calculated,
with his baggy jeans shorts, old sneakers, and a gray sweatshirt
with frayed wrists. But he's relaxed and comfortable talking
about himself. He knows what he wants and what he's capable of,
and he's fine with letting you know that, however you want to
take it. 

     <it>Hav Plenty<>, which Cherot wrote, directed, edited, and
starred in, made a big splash on the 1997 festival circuit. It's
a romantic comedy, with Cherot as Lee Plenty, a "slacker'' who
visits a friend for a weekend and has an impact on several women,
who find themselves strangely attracted to this man who "has''
nothing. If this aspect is a bit self-congratulatory, and the
women characters thinly drawn, in general the movie is energetic
and sweet, part <it>Reality Doesn't Bite<> and part <it>He
Doesn't Gotta Have It<>. 

     The film draws from a number of ecclectic inspirational
sources, in particular from forties and fifties' romantic
comedies. Cherot says that he wanted to resituate generic
conventions and characters, techniques used by Billy Wilder and
John Huston, looking for the qualities that "made them watchable,
back in the day. There was a silent quality; you could turn down
the sound and still be moved by the visual composition, a
physical beauty.'' He says that "in order to emulate a classic
feel, I had stay away from all the devices that are popular,
especially in independent films, like the quick cuts, cinema
verite shaky cam, or grainy black and white. It also worked out
that way by default because we didn't have expensive equipment,
big dollies and cranes. So I have a lot of long takes, extreme
close ups, stationary cameras, not a lot of cutting.'' 
 
     While he's using classic Hollywood as a model, Cherot is
sensitive to his responsibility as a young black filmmaker. But,
he says, "I don't feel like I have to make films  also to
represent disenfranchised communities, to bring them together.
That's not why I'm making films or telling stories. I think my
responsibility is to portray people, not just black people, but
all people, as realistically as possible.'' And if his film isn't
explicitly "about race,'' Cherot observes, "I don't think you
could easily have substituted the characters with white
characters. And it's not just slang or language. I think the
politics of the reactions are specific to black families... Lee
(Cherot's character) is basically a slacker. If he had been a
white character he would have been more attractive to Havilland
(Chenoa Maxwell). You don't usually see a black slacker in films,
because it's associated with negative images of laziness and
welfare.''  

     "There's a pressure put on black filmmakers to represent,''
Cherot says. "But if the film is well made and tells a good
story, it can unite that audience, enlightening folks and
bringing an entertainment factor. It's not preaching, but it
builds an audience.'' He feels that his film counters the
"message that beats us over the head every day, the need to
possess and purchase... I don't want to get self-righteous, but
if you don't decolonize your mind, then you're caught.'' 

     Now entering a world where material and image are at a
premuium, Cherot feels confident. "If you come into this business
without a developed awareness of what it's all about, an
awareness that keeps you grounded, you'll end up consuming and
believing that you are what you consume, that you are the second
coming of whatever they say you are... Next year there's another
Dirk Diggler with a bigger dick, and you have nothing. I'm coming
into this business with a sense of what I want my identity to be.
That's my rock and I feel grounded.''