Family Affair: Peering In on Another Screwed-up Clan

A A A Comments (6) By Andrew Schenker Wednesday, Nov 17 2010

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Family Affair
Directed by Chico Colvard
C-Line Films
Opens November 19, Quad Cinema

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The latest entry in the increasingly popular “meet my fucked-up relatives” documentary subgenre, Chico Colvard’s Family Affair spotlights a clan whose dysfunction makes Precious Jones’s household look like The Brady Bunch. A black Vietnam vet and himself an incest victim, Chico’s father instituted a reign of physical- and sexual-abuse-laden terror over his Kentucky home throughout the ’70s, leading indirectly to the then-10-year-old director shooting one sister in the leg and another sister later succumbing to paranoid schizophrenia. In an effort to understand his past actions and his sisters’ present-day decision to maintain a relationship with the father who repeatedly raped them, Colvard turns the camera on himself, his siblings, and, finally, his old man, whom he lets off easy by spoon-feeding him an excuse (the pressures of racial prejudice) for his actions. Still, Family Affair delves with fascination, if insufficient depth, into the psychology of victimhood, probing the tendency of the abused (represented by the director’s sisters) to rationalize for their abusers. But while Colvard’s film is always queasily watchable, as with other voyeuristic entertainments that insist on making the private public, there’s the sense that such matters may be better dealt with in-house—or in a courtroom—than writ large on a movie screen.

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Lynne Tirrell 11/20/2010 3:36:00 AM

Chico Colvard’s “Family Affair” is a finely nuanced exploration of the challenges of making one’s way in a world that has been shattered by violence. Colvard’s film is decidedly not a “meet my fucked-up relatives” docudrama, contra Mr. Shencker; it is a sensitive portrayal of the tensions facing trauma survivors, handled with great care and remarkable artistry. The artistry sets this film apart, allowing the audience to really see and feel the contradictions that the Colvard sisters live, day in and day out. Colvard’s use of lighting, camera angles, locations, bridges, roads, and other imagery, all fit together seamlessly to create a sense of time, place, and often unsettling intimacy. This is high-powered, not high-gloss, filmmaking. Mr Colvard’s artistic choices deliver a powerful narrative that helps viewers understand the delicate and heartbreaking process of rebuilding a life and reclaiming a family in the aftermath of violence. It is a beautifully articulated film, a tribute to his sisters’ strength and resilience, and an unflinching look at the monstrous ways that a parent, who should be helping his children to see the beauty of the world and find their place in it, can instead shatter their sense of themselves and the world around them. “Family Affair” is a moral and Colvard’s film makes no excuses, offers no answers, but treats its subjects, his sisters, with stunning grace. I am not sure whether to think Andrew Schenker’s belittling review of Colvard’s “Family Affair” is callous or defensive, or perhaps a bit of both, but he really needs to see the film. He needs peel back his own defenses and see the complex psychological and moral dimensions of this amazing film. Lynne Tirrell, Associate Professor of Philosophy, U Mass Boston.
Casey 11/19/2010 12:07:00 AM

Mr. Schenker's dismissive review of this extraordinary film is an unfortunate example of how much work still needs to be done to engage a wider public's understanding of the complexity and pervasiveness of family violence. While viewing this film might have been a distinctly voyeuristic experience for the reviewer, for many others it might have been one of identification, catharsis, and recognition, regardless of their racial or socioeconomic position. One has the distinct sense of the reviewer's distaste for both the filmmaker and the family members involved, and while such cruelty is undoubtedly within the critic's rights to exercise, it also reveals the depths of his and many others' beliefs that such matters belong to Other People. There are separate issues that are pertinent within a critical debate of this film's execution--as with many worthy works of art, it is not without flaw--but surely deriding Colvard's efforts to shape a candid narrative on the subject of familial rape is not among those.
Elena 11/18/2010 8:29:00 AM

This is one of the most powerful and sensitive films I have ever seen. I was shocked to read this review as I am sure many others were. I was so moved my Chico's honesty and bravery in telling this very emotional story.
L.Shelton 11/18/2010 8:12:00 AM

I'm stunned -- no disgusted with Schenker's attack on this beautifully crafted film, personal docs, in general and all of us they so intimately represent. This isn't a review, this is an assault on women, a people and issues to which Schenker seems to think only happens to "others." What an idiot! Can you imagine feeling safe with this asshole? Talk about the profile of a rapist or bigot.
KP 11/18/2010 7:40:00 AM

After reading this review, I have to wonder if Andrew Schenker and I watched the same film. I've seen Family Affair twice - first at it's Sundance premiere and again at the Independent Film Festival of Boston (where it took the audience award, and for good reason). I was even more astounded by it the second time than the first, perhaps because the second time around I was able to take in even more of the subtleties of the story. If Mr. Schenker merely did not like the film, that's fine. I can respect that. However, personal taste is one thing; sheer cluelessness is another. It's seriously offensive for a young, privileged white guy to state that a film like this is "voyeuristic entertainment" and to casually suggest that women and families who have undergone such irreversible trauma should keep their stories within the confines of their homes or, at most, the courtroom. Moreover, it is incredibly irresponsible of him and his editors to take a platform like the Village Voice to make that suggestion. Certainly, if you like your documentaries to give you a simplistic black-white-Democrat-Republican-with-us-or-against-us view of the world, this film is not for you. But if that's your perspective, Mr. Schenker, then stick to watching Disney films and leave the groundbreaking documentaries to the grown ups.
Jon Wilson 11/17/2010 10:27:00 AM

I'm astonished by Mr. Schenker's apparent failure to grasp the subtle strengths of Chico Colvard's "Family Affair." As one who works closely with victims/survivors and offenders in this kind of family violence and violation, I am regularly immersed with those caught up in the complex dynamics of such betrayals of love and trust, and this family portrait is one of the richest examples of what can happen as we may ever hope to see. It is so far from a "meet my fucked-up relatives" film that I can only assume that Mr. Schenker fast-forwarded through much of it in order to meet a deadline. Or else he has never actually encountered an individual whose family story contains elements of the Colvard's saga. If the struggle of families to come to terms with the complexity of such actions is of interest to you, do not rely on Mr. Schenker's arrogant dismissal of this extraordinary film. Rather, find a way to see it, and think about what it means to be part of a family with such a story. There are thousands and thousands of survivors of violence and violation like this. They are not "fucked-up relatives." They are our mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and sisters and brothers. Jon Wilson, Director JUST Alternatives Brooklin, Maine

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