Filmmaker William Greaves shot the footage that you see in “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” over the course of several hours in 1972 at a cocktail party at Duke Ellington’s house in New York City. That party was attended by the last living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance – people like Aaron Douglas, Richard Bruce Nugent, Arna Bontempts, and Gerri Major.
This party was the first time that many of these artists had seen each other in 50 or so years. They spend the party breaking off into small groups or coming all together, reminiscing and fighting about the past in equal measure, and considering the future.
Greaves worked on the film on and off for years, but passed away in 2014 before he could finish it. His son, David Greaves, and granddaughter, Liani Greaves, stepped in to finish the project, which opens in Atlanta this weekend.
This behind-the-scenes passing of the torch feels right in step with what “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” is attempting to capture – the passage of time, and how one generation helped shape Black American art and culture for decades to come.
Shot on 16mm and beautifully restored, “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” has the advantage of having as its subjects some of the most interesting, intelligent, and talented people ever put to screen. When we meet them, though, they are all far from the young bucks they once were – though, their discussions and disagreements are just as passionate. They spend the course of the film ruminating on their achievements, debating their merits, and wrestling with their legacy.
The footage that Greaves shot in 1972 really does feel like a fairytale at times – a New York straight out of a dream, with jazz music on the soundtrack as we watch everyone arrive on the bustling city streets, dressed to the nines. The one thing that interrupts that dreamlike quality is the use of AI to recreate William Greaves’ voice for roughly 90 seconds of voiceover. The filmmakers have talked about this decision as a way to continue the theme of the passage of time, but the use is quite noticeable, and, at least for this viewer, disrupted the film rather than enhanced it.
The documentary that “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” most calls to mind is 1979’s “Town Bloody Hall,” from the great D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. That film features a panel of feminist activists going toe-to-toe with Norman Mailer on the subject of women’s liberation – another example of a group of people discussing and debating a movement. But the thing that sets “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” in a world of its own is that this group is much older – they’re not talking about the merits of a movement they can still change (although, some of them do argue that the Renaissance is still ongoing), but rather reckoning with one that has past, and what it all meant.
Each generation thinks they are the best, and this one is no different (maybe they’re right, in this case, but the point still stands). How quickly a movement passes and how quickly progress comes are at the forefront of “Once Upon a Time in Harlem,” and it raises fascinating questions about how we consider those who came before us.
Towards the end of the film, the group begins discussing how young people today think about the Renaissance, and there are some present at the party who feel they’ve gone underappreciated. Lee Whipper, the actor, says he thinks the younger generations don’t care at all about the Renaissance – they’re too self-centered, he says. But the activist Richard B. Moore has a bit of a different view. He wonders out loud to Whipper if it’s their fault that young people don’t seem to care. Maybe they’re not doing enough to communicate the movement’s importance.
“Once Upon a Time in Harlem” takes up that mantle, proving the importance of the Harlem Renaissance by showing us its progress up close. Some of the living legends we see on screen are the children of enslaved people – and the passing of time, the progress that they have helped contribute to, has led them here. In this sense, “Once Upon a Time” becomes a bit of a misnomer – the Harlem Renaissance wasn’t a dream. It happened. And the proof of its merits and impact are up on the screen.
