“Residue” interrogates these ideas within those childhood flashbacks where Jay and his childhood friend Demetrius roam the streets until “the streetlights come on” and they have to have their asses home. The younger Jay and Demetrius are well-played by non-actors Gerima picked from the same Q Street location that nurtured him, which only adds to the personal nature of his film. The adult Jay is adamant about finding Demetrius’ whereabouts, but no one is forthcoming except to mention that he’s moved out to points unknown, just as Jay had. When young Jay moved to another part of the same city, his friends tell him that it was if he moved to another country; by that rationale, him leaving D.C. must have felt like he’d gone to Mars.

I appreciated the potentially open-ended nature of Demetrius’ story, but overall, it didn’t work as well for me as the reunion of Jay and another character who wrote Jay many letters from prison, none of which Jay answered. Again, I refer to the visuals of this sequence and how—and where—it plays out. These moments between Dion (Jamal Graham) and Jay exist simultaneously in the real world and in what is perhaps Jay’s scripted version. Regardless, the expression of affection between these two Black men felt so beautifully cathartic that it stayed with me long after the film was over.

“Residue” was released by Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY independent collective, which specializes in personal films like this one. Whether they’re brilliant, godawful, mediocre, or somewhere in between, movies like these are not only important, they are necessary. Representation matters; everybody has a story to tell and far too few of us are given the opportunity to tell it. Here’s to more stories like this.

Now available in select theaters and on Netflix.

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