Top of the Heap

"You leave my ol' lady out of this. She gives good head, and makes a fantastic meatball sandwich."To put it mildly, this isn't going to be for everybody. But for those seeking original, little seen and largely forgotten fare, this passion project from actor, producer,…

Mandrakegray

Adopts the cinematic language and genre signifiers of ‘blaxploitation’ before subverting desires/fantasies of breaking the system from the inside and transcending brutally ingrained realities through art to reveal the hollow promises and splintering identities beneath.…

cgavin

The devaluation and subsequent under-appreciation of Black auteurship in cinema is something that has always bothered me. For whatever reason, during this particular era of Black filmmaking in America, someone coined the term “Blaxploitation” and it stuck, implying, of…

Jerry

Christopher St. John’s Top of the Heap is a prime example of why I fell in love with film. His movie is fiercely original, using the trappings of the blaxploitation genre to get butts in the seats, only to treat his audience to one of the all-time great, rage-filled flicks,…

Dave Edwards

space, race "What if they don't want us up there with all of our human trash?" Messy, complicated, angry, singular auteur piece.

laird

A socio-political evisceration of its time, masqueraded as escapist blaxploitation fare - basically a sort of fired up, stylish proto-Bad Lieutenant with some brutal violence and surreal sci-fi moments that make this a rarely singular entry in early 70s genre cinema.…

Justin LaLiberty

A man prisoner to a series of contradicting symbols vomits back a life of repressed feelings. Incredible dedicated to its main character subjectivity, full of great off beat touches moving very easy between the grindhouse, flights of flancy and some very painful personal…

Filipe Furtado

A festering wound of black masculinity and inward and outward racial and social identity politics in crisis, made right at the point when black filmmaking was about to veer into self-parody and outright wish fulfillment fantasy. This almost feels like the sort of film that…

Liz

Masks attempt to conceal what cannot be contained The laugh and the cry both melting into the same extraterrestrial moan For meaning For security For rest Why am I here? Is it better over there? Is it better up there? Can it ever be better in here? Top of the…

Chase