Charles in Charge

'Harlem Nights made Guinness Book status for number of dirty words, but To Sleep with Anger broke records for number of producers—on a $1.2 million budget, because no one thought it'd make a red cent," says Charles Burnett, MacArthur Fellow and To Sleep's writer-director. But after its Sundance-festival premiere, To Sleep became a critical cause celebre and herald of a next step in African-American cinema. A new Spike Lee? Not precisely. "Spike doesn't represent all blacks—at least blacks don't think so. It's just that the media asks provocative questions and Spike answers them." A modern-day folktale about a black family and its yuppie sons, To Sleep centers on the appearance of a Faustian interloper played by Danny Glover. "He's only as strong as you are weak," says Burnett, "and those who've lost their history have lost their strength. These myths tell you something about the people spinning the tales—like the old guys drinking and telling stories around my grandmother's porch. They knew cunning. In some of their stories, the trickster wins."

MARCIA PALLY