MOVIE REVIEW : A Wide-Awake ‘To Sleep’ in Laguna

Few first glimpses of a film’s core character are as stirring, ticklish and provocative as in Charles Burnett’s “To Sleep With Anger” (1990).

There he is, Gideon, the patriarch of a South-Central Los Angeles family, sitting in his Sunday best powder-blue suit. To his left is a bowl of fruit--with flames flicking from the center. The fire moves to Gideon’s shoes and, although he appears unaffected, it seems slowly to engulf him.

These are just the opening credits, but already you know something’s happening here, something that may be wonderful or evil or both. The fire-and-brimstone imagery hints at the arrival of the mysterious Harry Mention, Gideon’s boyhood friend, and it tells us that “To Sleep With Anger” isn’t going to be business as usual.

The movie closes out the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts’ “Windows Onto an American Landscape” series tonight, and the best has been saved for last. Burnett--who may be remembered for “Killer of Sheep” (1977), his sobering look at a Watts slaughterhouse worker--suffuses his story of generational conflict (and a whole lot more) with comic tension, a magical undertow and the breeziness of someone recounting a familiar folk tale.

The home where Gideon (Paul Butler) and his wife, Suzie (Mary Alice), live is modest but dignified, with chickens in the back yard and a sense of community in the streets. This isn’t the South-Central of riots and drive-by shootings, but a place where mostly middle-class blacks have found pockets of stability.

Disturbances of a family nature are rising up, though. Gideon is angry over his irresponsible youngest son, Babe Brother (Richard Brooks), and the buppie lifestyle he’s embraced with his realtor wife, Linda (Sheryl Lee Ralph). Meanwhile, a classic sibling rivalry is simmering between Babe Brother and the more solid Junior (Carl Lumbly), who forms the bridge between Gideon’s old ways and Babe Brother’s new approach.

Still, everything is pretty low-key--until Harry Mention shows up. Harry strolls in from nowhere, saying he’s on his way to Oakland. He is charming, with all the dignity of a Southern gentleman. He mesmerizes with talk of distant days, bringing a charge to Gideon and his family. Babe Brother soon becomes a disciple, and everyone else gives in, too--at least at the start. But there’s something wrong with that twinkle in Harry’s eye.

Soon enough, the trouble starts. The family’s fragile balance is upset, and Harry takes on a devilish glint. We never know what Harry is--could be just a man designed for mischief, could be something more--and Danny Glover’s amazing performance makes a revelation out of the ambiguity.

Always good at playing with the contradictions of manliness and vulnerability, Glover is at the top of his game here; it may be his finest performance. Just watch how he smooth-talks a suspicious old girlfriend (Ethyl Ayler). Later, check out the fear when Babe Brother’s son startles him with a dangerous old superstition.

It’s this mingling of the ancient and modern, the spiritual with the living-hard-on-Earth, all leavened by humor, that makes “To Sleep With Anger” so special. Everything is rightly scaled, from Burnett’s earthy and genuine dialogue to the little U-turns the story takes, and that casual equilibrium enhances our appreciation.

* “To Sleep With Anger” is being shown tonight at 6 and 9 at the Festival Forum Theatre on the Festival of Arts grounds, 650 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. $4 and $5. (714) 494-1145.