Film

Chameleon Street (1991)

Director: Wendell B Harris Jr

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Virtually a lost film, this picked up a prize at the Sundance festival and earned some critical raves, but when Warners acquired the rights with a view to remaking it, they didn't bother to distribute the shoestring original - according to the writer/director/star, they actively suppressed it (it's never been released in the UK, even on video). It's flawed but often brilliant, one of the most provocative and adventurous American movies of the '90s. Harris is Douglas Street, a kind of professional black Zelig, who successfully passes himself off as a reporter, an exchange student, a lawyer and even a surgeon without any relevant qualifications. Formally adventurous, very funny, and deeply sour. Incredibly, it's based on a true story.

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