The DL Chronicles: The Complete First Season
by Deondray Gossett, Quincy Le Near
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anthony Clark, Damian T. Raven, Irene Amen, Latoya Torre, Oneil CespedesDirector: Deondray Gossett, Quincy Le Near
Brand: GPI
Producer: Deondray Gossett
Writer: Deondray Gossett
Writer: Quincy Le Near
Producer: Ahmed Best
Producer: Ani Williams
Producer: Hashim Williams
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Running Time: 132 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-05
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: LIB00125
Studio: Liberation Ent
Product features:
- "The DL Chronicles" tells the stories of men of color who by consequence and by choice, live sexually duplicitous and secret lifestyles. The "Down Low" is a slang term sometimes used to refer to African-American men who identify themselves as straight, but secretly engage in sexual activity with men. They date women, have children, and often marry in an effort to appear heterosexua
Movie Reviews of The DL Chronicles: The Complete First Season
Movie Review: I was pleasantly surprised
Summary: 5 Stars
For anyone who may not already know, a man on the "Down Low" or "DL", is one who secretly has sex with other men while pretending he only has sex with women. Such men can be single, have long-term girlfriends, fiancées, wives and even children and they rarely form romantic relationships with the men they have sex with. This sexual behaviour can be seen all over the world of course and is not in any way unique to the US. Neither is it the sole preserve of black men or even men in general, as men AND women of all ethnicities are also known to behave in correspondingly similar ways.
For reasons I haven't been able to determine however, African American and Latino men have chosen to formalise or institutionalise this phenomenon and coined and embraced the "DL" term. J. L. King wrote a book about it and went on Oprah to tell her and her wide-eyed studio audience how it's done, (apparently from first-hand experience), and in his book Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America, writer, activist and broadcaster Keith Boykin put together the most adequate exploration of this complex and intriguing phenomenon I've ever come across. I've heard - I've never met one of them personally myself - that these men are quite proud to proclaim themselves as being on the DL and are reported to be a really big deal in the eyes of the men who are said to lust after them. Each to his own, I suppose.
I do find it interesting though that unlike most social developments in the US, this is one that hasn't succeeded in crossing over the Atlantic to the UK. At least not yet. The behaviour exists, obviously, but the label just hasn't found a home here - and I would know.
Anyway, to the DVD. Though I had some preconceptions, I didn't know exactly what to expect. I deliberately didn't read anything about the DVD, not even any other reviews here on Amazon. I didn't even read the splurge on the back of the DVD (although I was surprised to see that the whole season was contained on just the one disc); I just put it in, sat back and watched. I was pleasantly surprised.
The season can fit into just the one disc because there are only four episodes to it. Created, produced & directed by real-life couple Deondray Gossett and Quincy LeNear, all four episodes - two written by Gossett, the other two by LeNear - are all woven together by narrator Chadwick (played by Damian Toofeek Raven) who plays an aspiring journalist who's writing a book about men he's met and knows about. He only gets to physically meet one of the men whose stories are featured here so I had to assume he knew of the other three. Each episode is about each of these four men.
First off is Wes, a married real estate banker (played by Darren Shnase), whose wife Sarah (played by Jessica Bashir) tells him one day that her "weird" brother Trent (played by Ty Vincent) will be staying with them for a while. It's clear from the onset that Trent makes Wes uncomfortable and he seems to know something about Wes that we don't.
The second episode introduces Robert, a talent agent (played by Terrell Tilford), who meets a charming young man named Austin (played by Austin Wade) after an incident in the health store Austin manages. In a case of coincidence that stretches the imagination somewhat, the two later meet online and arrange to meet. Robert appears eager and evasive all at the same time and Austin wants to take things slow. This episode is given added vigour by the performance of Sheilynn Wactor, who plays Austin's fiesty co-worker Shirley. Karamo (from MTV's Philadelphia season of "The Real World" has a cameo appearance, acting, ironically, the role of a straight dude. This is a better story than the previous one. I laughed out loud in places and I was slack-jawed towards the end.
We meet Boo (played by Oneil Cespedes) in episode three, and while this is supposed to be an episode that challenges stereotypes, to me, Boo was a stereotype walking. Hard-acting, tough-talking, bald-headed, Timberland-wearing and with tattoos and trousers down around his thighs, he was the archetypal thug. He was also hypersexual to boot and seemed to be sleeping with everyone, male and female. The good thing about this episode though, was that it went a long way to explain some of the reasons why these men behave in the way they do and it also bravely introduces the tricky issue of HIV/AIDS into the mix. There's a gasp-inducing moment where I'm sure a lot of folks will be reaching for the review and pause buttons on their remotes and, speaking for myself, I was particularly taken with Boo's friend Deron (played by Anthony Clark).
The final episode, perhaps wisely after the issues raised in episode three, decides to go for humour and we meet Mark (played by Ulrich Que), who's in a long-term committed relationship with partner Donte (played by Colbert Alembert). Mark's zany cousin Terrell (played by Dee Gibson) drops by unexpectedly and uninvited one day and asks if he can crash for a while. He's apparently fallen out with his girlfriend Regina. Terrell doesn't know that Mark is gay and poor Donte has to pretend to be Mark's roommate and he's NOT pleased. The stage is thus set for a whole lot of drama and misadventure. There's a shock twist to this story that I did NOT see coming and I'm usually good with that sort of thing. The end had me in absolute hysterics.
I really commend the show's creators and makers for this piece of work. Every single one of the preconceptions I had about the series was smashed (I thought the actors were all going to be chiselled-jawed model types; I thought the scenarios were all going to be E. Lynn Harris-esque upper-middle class, with lots of flashy cars, first-class flights, talk of designer labels and the like; I thought the talk would be all about sex and I was wrong on all three counts) and although there were a few "Nollywood" moments, on the whole the series was very well acted and very well directed. I also have to commend here! - I believe it's a cable channel - for taking the series on. There were enough love scenes and scenes of full nudity to make it interesting without it being too tacky. I actually like this better than Noah's Arc - The Complete First Season.
Most crucially though, I feel that no matter what opinions we may hold about this breed of men, this series will go some way to enabling us to understand them better. I certainly do. I used to believe that they were a bunch of duplicitous, selfish and dangerous renegades but while I don't excuse what they do and probably never will, at least I now know it's a lot more complicated than that. At the end of the day, if the society we live in wasn't so virulently homophobic and patently heterosexist, these kinds of men would probably not exist. I have a feeling they're not all that happy living the way they do and as fellow human beings - men, women, gay, straight, bisexual, black, white or whatever - I feel we all need to be concerned about that.
It'll be interesting to see where these guys go for season two. I'm looking forward to it.
PS. Sorry the review is so long but I had a lot to say about this one!
Summary of The DL Chronicles: The Complete First Season
Synopsis:Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: NR
Street Date: 02/05/08
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
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