Ep. 5: Charles Burnett

The Drunk Projectionist

The Drunk Projectionist's Todd Melby interviews Charles Burnett, director of "Killer of Sheep." Critic Terrence Rafferty of GQ called the film "one of the most striking debuts in movie history." The movie examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse. Frustrated by money problems, he finds respite in moments of simple beauty: the warmth of a teacup against his cheek, slow dancing with his wife, holding his daughter.