Jamaa Fanaka
A Day in the Life of Willie Faust, or Death on the Installment Plan (1972)
From L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema (1971-2006)
YEAR: 1972
FORMAT: Digital video, transferred from 16mm blow-up from 8mm, color
Jamaa Fanaka’s first project plays off the Blaxploitation’s genre conventions, an adaption of Goethe’s “Faust” presented with a non-synchronous soundtrack and superimposed over a remake of Super Fly (1972). Often out of focus with an overactive camera, the film immediately exudes nervous energy, but unlike Priest’s elegant cocaine consumption in Super Fly, Willie’s arm gushes blood as he injects heroin. A morality tale in two reels. —Jan-Christopher Horak