To Sleep with Anger

To Sleep with Anger
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Charles Burnett
Written by	Charles Burnett
Produced by	Caldecot Chubb Thomas S. Byrnes Darin Scott
Starring	Danny Glover Paul Butler Mary Alice Carl Lumbly Vonetta McGee Richard Brooks Sheryl Lee Ralph
Cinematography	Walt Lloyd
Edited by	Nancy Richardson
Music by	Stephen James Taylor
Distributed by	The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Release date	October 12, 1990 (United States)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.1 million

To Sleep with Anger is a 1990 American black comedy film written and directed by Charles Burnett.

In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It had a remastered home media release from the Criterion Collection on February 26, 2019.

Plot

Gideon and his wife Suzie live in South Central Los Angeles. Harry, a longstanding friend from the South whom they have not seen for many years, makes a surprise visit. The couple are delighted to see him and insist that he stay with them for as long as he wishes. Harry has a charming, down-home manner, but his enigmatic and somewhat amoral presence brings to a crisis trouble simmering in the family—especially as regards the younger son, Samuel or "Babe Brother", and his relationships with his parents, wife, and older brother, Junior.

Harry's presence threatens to break up Samuel's marriage and seems to be related to an illness Gideon develops. It proves ultimately purgative, though Harry's precise role remains ambiguous.

Cast

Reception

The film has received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, To Sleep with Anger holds a rating of 88% from 34 reviews, with an average score of 7.30/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "To Sleep with Anger examines cultural tensions with a deft hand and a potent blend of comedy and drama, stirred skillfully to life by a strong cast led by Danny Glover."

Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine called it a "neglected masterpiece of African-American cinema." IndieWire's Brandon Wilson has called it Burnett's "other masterpiece," as well as numerous other favorable comparisons to Killer of Sheep, saying "Like all great art, To Sleep With Anger triumphs because it works both on a personal level... and it is provocative enough thematically to fuel hours of discussion about tradition versus modernity and how it has affected African-Americans, for better or worse... [Burnett]'s asking us to think about the generation gap, Christian faith versus backwoods mysticism, the grip of the past versus the pull of the present, African-American yearning for financial prosperity versus our sense of altruism & duty and complications within both sides of each coin."

Roger Ebert, however, called it "too long" in a mixed review. Entertainment Weekly's Owen Glieberman called it "too ambitious" and said it "never finds a mood".

Accolades