A delicious and empowering narrative denouncing the silencing of black women throughout the development of cinema in the USA (and the world?). The flirtation between fiction and documentary emerges as a strategy to problematize the historical sources and personal narratives that make up the great archive of cinema history. The discussions about the encounter between the experiences of gender, sexuality and race are the icing on the cake, and a masterpiece of black lesbian cinema. Excellent film!

When I saw this film had 53% on the audience score, I figured it was for racist reasons, I looked at the reviews and I was sort of right. Though they won't say it, most of the audience here completely missed the point of the movie. Anyways this was a fine film, groundbreaking even now, and it's a fun time capsule of mid '90s Philadelphia. The only reason I gave it a rating is because the website required it, but honestly the film is beyond a measly rating in my opinion. It's funny reading some of the reviews of students who were "forced" to watch it for their class and didn't appreciate it, hilarious. I love it's style, the way that it's edited and honestly the whole aesthetic of the film, though the acting, editing and some of the scenes are amateurish, but in my opinion that's part of it's charm. I really love the scene towards the end where Fae's partner criticizes the way that Cheryl is focusing too much of her documentary on the white lesbian director and not on the life she shared with June, as well as how Cheryl ends the film with the phrase "Sometimes we have to tell our own stories" before revealing that Fae Richards never existed. It should be a lot higher on those best LGBTQ films lists, especially the lesbian ones, but I'm not surprised that it isn't.

Just because something is influential or groundbreaking doesn't make it watchable. Case in point: The Watermelon Woman. Congratulations to Cheryl Dunye for apparently being the first black lesbian to direct a full-length film, which she also edited, wrote, and starred in. The premise? A video store clerk spends her free time trying to research and put together a documentary film about a black actress from the ‘30s known only as the Watermelon Woman. Some of the faux documentary footage is interesting, but the rest of the film is devastatingly bad, including wooden performances, brutal dialogue, unimaginative direction, and scenes that go nowhere and add nothing to the story. Had Dunye stuck to the documentary angle, the film could have had a fighting chance. As it is, it is a tough slog.

A brilliant film, equal parts serious and silly. Explores the ideas of different types of truth ("stories are lies that reveal a greater truth") and history which we makee for ourselves, and in particular that marginalised communities make for themselves. It's incredibly subtle for a debut film, and while it's clearly very low budget/amateur that never detracts. Ideas around intersectionality are brilliantly explored. Clearly wears its Spike Lee influence on its sleeve but hey at least with the shoutout they're honest. Big recommend.

The whole time I was watching it, I was mentally beating myself over the head going 'why can't you enjoy this, you ingrate!? this is a landmark in LGBT cinema!! this is your history!!'. I really wanted to like this film but found it tedious and amateurish.

I'm not good at giving reviews and critique. But i was able to watch this movie without forwarding or in 2x speed which is saying a lot. The movie is really good, it really pique my interest because of the idea of going back and finding traces of yourself in history is so relatable. It only comes when you feel so lost and unsupported in the current lifetime, that finding someone back then was also sapphic must've beeen so idk reassuring. I'm not sure thats how Cheryl felt but I'm projecting probably. The concept was very nice, i would have loved more in dept of that. But the other part of the movie was focused on black lesbians, so i understand Cheryl wanting to do a balance of both. Of which, the latter I couldn't relate to. However, it's an amazing film nonetheless. The cuts were a little annoying, the fashion is A+ It also made me more hungry for poc stories, especially love stories embedded beneath everything else.

This films intention was great! However the film itself was terrible. The acting in this film was upsetting and was something that you would see in a high school video project. The writing was just an attempt write how humans talk and being as human as possible is not drama. While the intention and obstacle of the characters were somewhat clear, the stakes were not high at all which made the film extremely boring and easy to make the viewer uninterested. The editing of this film looked as if it were edited using iMovie, extremely choppy and the lack of establishing shots made it impossible to know where the characters were. Lastly, there was absolutely no timeline in this film, it was filmed in such a way that there was no way to tell whether it look place in the span of eleven days or eleven months. Overall, this film had a great message but was done as if it were a high school video project.

This is perhaps one of the worst movies I ever had the displeasure of being forced to watch and pretend was some pretentious piece of art for an essay. This is, ironically, as poorly constructed from top to bottom as the shit on the bottom shelf at a video store. Absolutely unbearable in every way imaginable. Many of my half star ratings are on principle. I legitimately believe this film deserves it.

Important for it’s subject only. The great reviews are reviewing the intent, not the film. The film itself is poorly written, poorly directed, and poorly acted. Sophomoric on all levels but for what it wants to be. The equivalent of the most horrible open mic poetry night, about something important.

Tightly directed with clear sense of purpose and crackling intelligence, it's astounding how contemporary, and a bit sad how provocative, this tour de force remains even today.

The content was very interesting. The film itself wasn't. The only one who could act was the Tamara character. This looks like a well shot home movie with characters who couldn't act all that well. apparently the main characters mother and another elderly woman are the only two straight people in Philadelphia. But she did have a great topic. Had this just remained a documentary style as she intended it would have been much better.

The Watermelon Woman is a fascinating look at the way black lesbian women communicate today and how the depictions of black women in the media and classic films inform their current situations. The fact that it goes several layers of fiction deep, fabricating a gay black actress from the 1930s and having actors present themselves as if they actually knew her or knew of her while simultaneously including a narrative from the present acts as a brilliant comment on the ways in which the histories of black and lesbian women have been documented over time. The performances are a little stiff, but that really doesn't matter in a film so filled with ideas and so intelligently put together.

An interesting story and a good movie

It might have been an ok movie if it were true...

Very rough technically, but Dunye's winning personality carries the movie.

Entertaining, low-budget indie about a black lesbian (likeable Cheryl Dunye, more or less playing herself) trying to make her first film as well as find a stable relationship.

Amateurish and awkward (dialogue particularly) but warm-hearted. And sometimes it's really funny.

A very warm, funny and insightful comedy about the lack of representation of black lesbians throughout film history. Cheryl Dunye is amiable and energetic, and while the film may not be the most technically impressive work, it's a pleasure to spend time with.

It's certainly not for everyone.

The level of intimacy achieved in the watermelon woman is startling enough that it's lack of formal and technical skill, can be overlooked, for the most part anyway. Though it's subject is interesting some really wooden scenes awkwardly interrupt the flow of the better ones. Marginality is the central theme, as our heroin attempts to explore the identities of black actresses who played the help in early Hollywood films and often went uncredited. She picks out one attractive woman to zero in on and finds history mirroring her life. And then cue an awkward 90's hip hop dancing transition scene.