VINTAGE: FAMILIES OF VALUE

Thomas Allen Harris's video-camera “family album,” a five-year effort, proves that straight, black career women aren't the only ones Waiting to Exhale. Homosexual and bisexual African-Americans must turn to their own brothers and sisters as a primary source of friendship and support, and so it is with Harris's siblings, as his equally queer borther and three sisters (one declares herself a lesbian “warrior”) take turns behind and before the lens to reflect, debate, squabble, and, above all, love and respect one another. Blending tribal imagery with role-playing, moments of great humor with searing catharsis (it's not unusual to hear a participant demand that the camera be shut off), this intimate, upbeat look at for-real family values affirms what one sister says: “Every day is a living monument.” – Charles Cassady