Review of Medicine for Melancholy (2009) by Donna R — 30 May 2010

Excellent movie that indirectly addresses a dating topic that is seldom addressed among African Americans: what happens when 2 African Americans who have been dating white people date each other? Though they never make it past the first "date," enough happens to give you a glimpse into the potential conflicts that may occur. (Note also that they meet through a mutual white friend who appears to be upper middle class and the subject of class comes up often in the plot. Ironically, Micah is living a low-income lifestyle and Jo is literally living off of her absent boyfriend, who for all the viewer knows, is prostituting her since there is no evidence that he actually "lives" there.).

Micah is on the rebound from a failed relationship that was symbolically sealed with his gift of a bike; he now wants to fix Jo's bike and in the end uses the placement of her bike on his bed to communicate to her that all he wants is for her to stay the night, no sex required. He explains his work and passion for aquariums and mentions that angel fish are more abundant at the warehouse, but if you go to a store that has only one angel fish, "you're married to that angel fish." He also describes his job as being the person to make aquariums beautiful when the owner doesn't know how. This discussion is an analogy for his views on African American dating in San Francisco. The warehouse of angel fish are the abundance of available white partners and the store-bought angel fish is the rarely available African American partner that he would feel he has to be with just because of the shortage. He believes Jo doesn't know how to have a beautiful relationship since she's hanging on to a white boyfriend and wants to be the one to show her how to have a beautiful relationship with an African American man.

Jo's Facebook site reveals that she has an open mind to all kinds of people. Her character has no real direction in life and she describes herself as one who is "working that out." The actress does a wonderful job of going from bored, angry, or guilty to happy, amused, and peaceful. (Her hobby of making t-shirts for female directors is plain weird and doesn't get explained well in the movie.) Though she wants to be with Micah, she does have a sense of commitment to the absent boyfriend. She seems innocent and delicate in many scenes, but downright worldly in others. She comes across as complex, but Micah sees through that to know she needs him.

Both characters have a mix of knowledge about African American culture and history, however Micah wins the challenge by knowing what's happening in his own city. Jo on the other hand has been scrounging off of her boyfriend in an upper middle class neighborhood and has not kept up with Afrocentric activities in other parts of the city. It would seem that this would turn off Micah, but it only shows him just how much she needs him.

It's a great independent film that deserved it's awards.