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| On the Downlow | 
| Director: Abigail Child
Actor: On The Downlow
Studio: DOCURAMA
Category: DVD
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $11.26
You Save: $15.69 (58%)
New (26) from $11.26
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 59472
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Running Time: 70 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: NVGD112970D
UPC: 767685112977
EAN: 0767685112977
ASIN: B00197POYA
Release Date: September 23, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 an important matter in MY community October 18, 2008
1. THERE'S SOMETHING HERE THAT DIDN'T SURPRISE ME. In a lot of the scenarios, the straight Blacks had some clue about the DL brothas. One guy said when his girlfriend and he broke up, she screamed, "You like hot dogs anyway!" But yet she later took him back. When one guy came out as bisexual, his military father said, "I had been hearing stories of that." A straight female friend said to one DL man, "I knew that!" The Black community is my own community and I do think that sometimes it's not that brothas are hiding; it's that straights are willing to ignore the facts because they don't want them to be true in the first place. This DL thing is not fool-proof.
2. THERE'S SOMETHING HERE THAT SADDENS ME OR MAKES ME EMPATHIZE WITH STRAIGHT WOMEN. First, one brotha is dancing in sexy rhythm with his girlfriend, then later he comes out to her while his boyfriend is at the same table. The woman asks, "Does this mean this is the end of you and me?" and the DL guy affirms that. The sista bows down her head in sadness. I think a whole bunch of straight female viewers are going to get teary-eyed at this. This woman did not ask that her man be gay. She lost what she thought was a good partner through no fault of her own. The documentary does not pursue the issue further and some may feel that this short-changes her unfairly. But this scene reminds me of Dina Matos-McGreevey's autobiography and Liza Minelli's comments about the legitimate pain of straight women who find out the real deal about their male partners. Perhaps someone could make a documentary about how they suffer too. Those interested in this from a Black woman's perspective may want to read LaJoyce Brookings' autobiography.
3. THERE'S SOMETHING THAT ANNOYED ME. A lot of the people filmed had their faces blurred. The camera purposely used blurry movements so the viewer couldn't see some of the actions taking place by people in the camera's range. The DL brothas speak in low, mumbly tones so you could barely hear what they are saying. From an aesthetic perspective, this may have given a visual imagery to a topic that is meant to be so secret. But if you are a viewer that likes to be given all the facts and have a better chance to come up with your own conclusions, then you may hate a lot of this.
4. MISCELLANEOUS STUFF. Other discussions of DL have implied that DL brothas avoid openly gay men like the plague. The four men here never suggest that being gay and being DL are mutually exclusive. In a lot of ways, "down low" just means "closeted." In "Boundaries of Blackness," Dr. Cathy Cohen said the MSM term is frustrating because MSM often get busy with openly gay men. Remember when J.L. King said to Oprah, "Will & Grace and Queer as Folk don't matter because they concern whites, not blacks!"? Some say that DL brothas get down only intraracially. Some say DL is a response to not just Black homophobia, but also to white gay racism. The legal book "Hybrid" makes mention of this. In other words, DL may come from the thought that "White gays exclude us and Black straights would punish us if they knew the real deal, so this is how we'll negotiate those two things." Here, there seemed to be more interracial action that one might imagine. Don't get me wrong: this wasn't like the infuriating "Brother to Brother" where no Black male couples were present. There are brotha-loving brothas here. It's just that there are more whites here than some may imagine. Finally, I think bisexual activists may have a lot to say about this. These men never suggest that liking men equates to not liking women. They never say, "I'm so proud and excited that others don't know the real me!" They seem to be suggesting that liking men may prevent them from getting with women, so they just keep that side of them under wraps. If there were more acceptance of bisexual males, then maybe DL-ness would not be so widespread.
 Living a Secret September 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
"On the Downlow"
Living a Secret
Amos Lassen
The expression "on the downlow" has made its way into common usage now and I doubt there are many people who do not know what it means. Abigail Child in her new film of the same name "On the Downlow" gives us a look at four African-American men who live in Cleveland, Ohio and live their lives "on the downlow". The narratives of the four are interwoven through interviews that are quite candid and we get quite an in-depth look at men who lead double lives.
Many of out African-American brothers are not comfortable with being associated with gay culture as they feel it violates the Black concept of masculinity. We meet Billy who boasts that the best sex he has ever had was with the woman who carried his two children but he chooses to live with a male partner. Ray desires drag queens and Kerwin is comfortable with a beautiful woman at one side and a handsome man on the other. Antonio became involved with men when he was in prison and he dates a guy named George who has a girlfriend who does not know about Antonio. Obviously the "downlow" lifestyle is not easy and we see this through the real and poignant stories of these men. They live as straight men but their sexual lives are with men. Child must have been able to gain the confidence of these men in order to be able to tell their story and she gives us a wonderful and beautifully photographed film about something that most of us know nothing about.
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