Bringing The Man in My Basement, the 2004 philosophical novel by celebrated author Walter Mosley, has been two decades in the making. That’s when first-time film director Nadia Latif, who is known for helming theater productions, first discovered Mosley’s work.
“I read the novel 21 years ago and just found it so gripping, weird and dark, with images that haunted me for a really long time,” she stated to EBONY.
The story revolves around Charles Barkeley, played by Corey Hawkins, a man who’s about to lose his inherited ancestral home to the bank due to nonpayment. That’s when he’s approached by Anniston Bennett, played by Willem Dafoe, who offers Charles a significant amount of money to rent his basement. When Anniston’s reason behind his confinement comes to light, it becomes an exploration of race, class and power.
“He goes through it in this film. We’re dealing with our legacy. We’re dealing with ancestry, and I am a descendant of enslaved people,” Hawkins exclaimed. “I think for Charles, it was a lot of just wrestling with dredging up that history, and really bringing it to light.”
Anna Diop, who plays Narciss Gully, added, “I’m from Senegal, I’m West African, and so the culture of my people and the culture and Black American people have always been two of some of the most defining parts of who I am. It’s to know myself and how I move in the world and where one comes from, understanding ancestral and generational trauma and joy and brilliance, what that does to a life.”
As most of the movie takes place between two souls in in a basement, Latif had to transform it into a place that remains utterly creepy.
“We were always interested in how you could use a kind of cinematic frame to both create a sense of space and close it down. And I think lighting is very kind of essential in that,” she shared. “The house, although it’s huge, feels incredibly oppressive; Charles is trapped in it. Even though he has space, the curtains are all closed. There’s so much detail about actually how little light comes in.”
But even in darkness comes the light. “That was my job, to bridge that gap, as hard as it is for a young Black man drifting through life rudderless without a sense of direction, but he finds it.”
The Man in My Basement is now playing in select theaters.
