From the opening sequence of Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden’s “The Black Sea,” the film introduces the audience to Harden’s character Khalid, a charismatic man from New York who quits his job in pursuit of an alleged “Bulgarian sugar mommy.” 

The film, which filmmakers Moselle and Harden conceived during the Writer’s Guild of America Strike, follows Khalid in Bulgaria without a script. This experimental filmmaking allowed for the story to naturally unfold by documenting the experiences of Harden’s character as he attempts to make it back to New York. 

Khalid stands out in the film, not simply because he’s the only Black man in the Bulgarian seaport where the movie takes place, but because of his charm and personality that draws in the people he interacts with. The relaxed cinematography and free-flowing dialogue in the film reflect the loose guidelines of the film that represent the wayward direction Khalid is on while in Bulgaria.

While it is easy to assume that a film that lacks an official writing credit would appear difficult to follow or lack narrative, “The Black Sea” tells a captivating story of a budding relationship with Ina, a local woman and travel agent, who Khalid meets after realizing the woman he thought was a sugar mommy was presumed dead. 

“The Black Sea” premiered on March 9 as a part of the annual Narrative Feature Competition at South by Southwest. Captured by Jackson Hunt, who has worked with the likes of Beyonce, Solange and The 1975, the cinematography of “The Black Sea” appears handheld and often incredibly up close, allowing the audience to feel much more personal with the characters in the film. With a grounded approach, such as using a photographic style in the first few stills of the film, and the quick and constant movement of the camera, the film places the audience alongside Khaild to connect them to the feeling of losing one’s identity.  

Hip-hop music acts as a guiding presence with references and homages to rap scattered throughout the film. While Khalid looks for a job, his magnetic personality leads him to a local wearing a DMX shirt, and then into a basketball game against a kid who is sporting a Tupac shirt, marking the indelible impact that the genre has had on the character hailing from Brooklyn. 

Overall, though Khalid finds himself stranded in a country more than 4,000 miles from his home, his personability leads him to make connections that lead him to interesting new journeys in a film that proves witty, humorous and relatable.

4 passports out of 5