Scene from "Killer of Sheep" (1977) They were playing this on Turner Classic Movies last night, and though I was dog-tired, I simply could not turn off the TV.→[More:] The images, performances, and music are so stunningly evocative of a particular time and place, that it was almost like being transported back in time and watching actual lives as they were unfolding around me. It's so good, in fact, that I'm putting the Charles Burnett box set at the very top of my DVD wish-list.

The story behind the film's recent emergence from 30 years of near-obscurity is interesting in and of itself.