Old School

LOSING GROUND (1982) (B) - This curiosity from the early '80s -- just now getting a full release -- has the raw feel of a student film, even though it was made by a 40-year-old woman.

"Losing Ground" is the only full-length feature film from playwright Kathleen Collins, who is credited as a pioneering black female filmmaker. She would die six years later, having never made a follow-up. But her influence can be seen in "The Cosby Show" and the films of Spike Lee, particularly in her confident depiction of middle-class people of color.

Using mostly non-actors or journeymen performers, Collins tells the story of philosophy professor Sara (Seret Scott), a prim intellectual searching for something more than what is offered by her artist husband Victor (Bill Gunn), a braggadocious horn-dog who drags her away from her work in New York to a summer retreat upstate. Victor has just made a major sale and is inspired to switch from abstract art to representational paintings, apparently so that he can hit on women under the pretense of becoming a portraitist.

Sara feeds off the energy of her students, and is particularly drawn to a young filmmaker who invites her to star in his latest shoestring production. Sara will eventually make a major life choice, leaving Victor to cat around with a young muse (Maritza Rivera) and grouchily hanging up on Sara whenever she calls. Sara, meanwhile, is drawn to her charming, broad-shouldered co-star.

The story and the performances are uneven. The demure Scott has her moments, but she doesn't have the heft to carry such an emotionally wrenching film. The handsome, wiry Gunn, a TV veteran of '60s action shows, bigfoots the movie in his depiction of a vibrant, restless man approaching middle age. The production feels very much like a leftover from the era of downbeat '70s dramas. (It could very well be that it took years to shoot and finalize.) In fact, the narrative devices reach further back to a classic era of theater, with a smoldering tension that builds in the final half.

Collins' framing and camerawork are interesting at times, but she comes across as a director feeling her way around the format. A few scenes play like shout-outs to Charles Burnett's 1978 milestone, "Killer of Sheep." It's a bittersweet little movie that makes you wonder what might have come after it.