Review: 'The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs' an Essential Release from Criterion

Marlon Riggs was many things – a proud gay Black man, filmmaker, poet, activist – though his impact took into consideration all of those titles. To him, the history of Black culture isn't just some story to tell, learn from or experience, it was a way for him to showcase all of the misconceptions put forth by white supremacy in popular culture and create a place for all Black people to feel seen and see each other.

The Criterion Collection brings "The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs" to Blu-ray with a collection of Riggs' seven films all restored from their original video sources. Riggs was an early adopter of digital video, and while the age of the format is shown here, I think the texture inherent in video is important to preserve and is part of Riggs approach. To him, images have the power to bind or liberate, no matter the format. This collection of Riggs' works also comes with plenty of special features to further illustrate the power of his filmmaking, and also to provide further context into the way history and the media have contorted and advertised Black stereotypes.

While Riggs' 1991 work "Tongues Untied" catapulted him to further success in his desired mode, the controversy surrounding it further proved his point, as Congress put into question the film's funding by the National Endowment of the Arts. It's exactly what a government would do to suppress the voices of the oppressed. But even beyond the controversy, "Tongues Untied" further proved that Riggs was a filmmaker at the top of his form, liberating the voices of Black gay men through an overwhelming, intoxicating mix of image, music, performance, and poetry.

Riggs believed that his work had the power to bring together Black people despite their disparate experiences – not through appealing to all, but by showing how history has informed and misinformed the makeup of his culture. That power is evident in all seven of his films, even in his educational "Ethnic Notions," which went far beyond a traditional documentary; cutting between archival footage and recreations to expose the degradation white supremacy inflicted on popular Black culture in the early 1900s.

It should go without saying here that "The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs" is an essential purchase and a triumph of preservation of one of our foremost mixed-media artists. I'm just glad that Criterion saw it fit to give his work the platform it so rightfully needed, as it's unfortunately (and fortunately) more relevant than ever today.

Other special features include:

� Four new programs featuring filmmaker and editor Christiane Badgley; performers Brian Freeman, Reginald T. Jackson, and Bill T. Jones; filmmakers Cheryl Dunye and Rodney Evans; poet Jericho Brown; film and media scholar Racquel Gates; and sociologist Herman Gray
� Excerpts from a 1992 interview with director Marlon Riggs
� Brief introductions by Riggs to "Tongues Untied" and "Color Adjustment"
� "Long Train Running: The Story of the Oakland Blues" (1981), Riggs's University of California, Berkeley, graduate thesis film
� Introduction to Riggs from 2020 featuring filmmakers Vivian Kleiman and Shikeith, and Ashley Clark, curatorial director of the Criterion Collection
� "I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs" (1996), a documentary by Karen Everett that features interviews with Riggs; Kleiman; filmmaker Isaac Julien; African American studies scholar Barbara Christian; several of Riggs's longtime friends and collaborators; and members of his family
� English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
� PLUS: An essay by film critic K. Austin Collins

"The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs" is now available on Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.