Barry Jenkins

Medicine for Melancholy

Medicine for Melancholy

Barry Jenkins’s captivating debut feature, Medicine for Melancholy, is a lo-fi romance that unfolds against the backdrop of a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco. There, a one-night stand between two young bohemians, Micah (Wyatt Cenac) and Jo’ (Tracey Heggins), spins off into a woozy daylong affair marked by moments of tenderness, friction, joy, and intellectual sparring as they explore their relationships to each other, the city, and their own Blackness. Shooting on desaturated video, Jenkins crafts an intimate exploration of alienation and connection graced with the evocative visual palette and empathetic emotional charge that have come to define his work.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 2008
  • 88 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.78:1
  • English
  • Spine #1183

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New high-definition digital master, approved by director Barry Jenkins and director of photography James Laxton, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • New audio commentary featuring Jenkins
  • Audio commentary from 2008 featuring Jenkins, producers Justin Barber and Cherie Saulter, and editor Nat Sanders
  • New program about the making of the film, featuring Sanders and actor Wyatt Cenac
  • Camera test footage and blooper reel
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Danielle Amir Jackson

    New cover by Alphaville

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New high-definition digital master, approved by director Barry Jenkins and director of photography James Laxton, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • New audio commentary featuring Jenkins
  • Audio commentary from 2008 featuring Jenkins, producers Justin Barber and Cherie Saulter, and editor Nat Sanders
  • New program about the making of the film, featuring Sanders and actor Wyatt Cenac
  • Camera test footage and blooper reel
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Danielle Amir Jackson

    New cover by Alphaville
Medicine for Melancholy
Cast
Wyatt Cenac
Micah
Tracey Heggins
Jo’
Credits
Director
Barry Jenkins
Written by
Barry Jenkins
Produced by
Justin Barber
Coproduced by
Cherie Saulter
Director of photography
James Laxton
Edited by
Nat Sanders
Associate producer
Greg O’Bryant
Associate producer
Amy Seimetz
Music supervisor
Greg O’Bryant
Assistant camera, gaffer, and key grip
Alejandro Cruz
Production sound mixer
Nikolas Zasimczuk

Current

Medicine for Melancholy: Love in a Hopeless Place
Medicine for Melancholy: Love in a Hopeless Place

Two young San Francisco residents navigate the potential for romance and their opposing views on race in Barry Jenkins’s moving debut feature.

By Danielle Amir Jackson