Nightjohn

Sarny (Allison Jones) is born into slavery and separated from her mother at an early age. She's raised by Dealey (Lorraine Toussaint), who promises early on that "nuthin' too bad" will happen to her young charge. Clel Waller (Beau Bridges), who owns the plantation, is a cruel man, who sees the ...more

Nightjohn, originally produced for the Disney Channel, marks venerated independent filmmaker Charles Burnett's first made-for-TV feature, and was the first feature of his remarkable career that he did not have a hand in writing. Based on a young-adult novel, the film is a slave narrative that has many familiar elements (recognizable from other productions that deal with slavery, including Roots and Glory) and, ostensibly, in its simple, straightforward storytelling, little to connect it to the ...more