NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (July 2023): Criterion have transferred Cheryl Dunye's The Watermelon Woman to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "2K digital restoration, supervised by director Cheryl Dunye, cinematographer Michelle Crenshaw, and producer Alexandra Juhasz, in collaboration with the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project". The film has cross-sections of 16mm interspersed with the stronger quality footage. That represents the documentary 25-year-old Cheryl character is making on "The Watermelon Woman"; an uncredited Black actress from the 1930s known for playing stereotypical "mammy" roles. The aspect ratio for the film is 1.33:1 and the 'live' sequences are excellent - clean and crisp - and the remaining 1080P has the appearance of stock footage - grainy 16mm. This is fully intentional and representative of the production. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate and providing a strong replication via the HD presentation.

NOTE: We have added 28 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a DTS-HD Master 5.1 track (24-bit) in the original English language. It is representing the film's audio track via a 3.0 surround rendering. The Watermelon Woman's diegetic sound is passive. The score is credited to Paul Shapiro (saxophone and flute) his only film composition credit. There is also some Mozart (Rondo from Eine Kleine Nacht Music), SoHo, Boogie Oogie Oogie, Groove Collective, Sha-Key, Bass Is Base etc. The Watermelon Woman audio is clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. No issues. Criterion offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray offers a new 1/4 hour interview with Cheryl Dunye reminiscing about her debut feature. There is also a new 20-minute conversation between Dunye and artist-filmmaker Martine Syms with topics of identity, feminism and black culture. There is another video piece; a new 24-minute conversation between producer Alexandra Juhasz and filmmaker and film scholar Thomas Allen Harris. Lastly are six early short films by Dunye totally close to 1 1/4 hours. These include An Untitled Portrait from 1993 - described as a "Video montage" (mixture of appropriated film footage) involving Dunye's relationship with her brother. It is quite humorous. The Potluck and the Passion is also from 1993. This is an "Experimental narrative" seeing conflicts at a lesbian potluck occasion. Greetings from Africa is from 1994 where Cheryl is again playing herself, navigating the complicated world of lesbian dating in the 90s. The Blu-ray package has a liner notes booklet with an essay by critic Cassie da Costa.

The title of Cheryl Dunye's The Watermelon Woman is a play on the Melvin Van Peebles’s 1970's film Watermelon Man with comedian Godfrey Cambridge. Wikipedia states that "Dunye cites numerous influences that have contributed to her work including that of Chantal Akerman, Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Godard but notes that Jim McBride's David Holzman's Diary (1967) and Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (1977) are some of the "most powerful" influences on her." A history of 'The Watermelon Woman' actress sought by Cheryl's character in the story seems to represent a larger group of Black female performers marginalized or completely erased from Hollywood film history. There are subtle references to actresses like Hattie McDaniel (Show Boat), Butterfly McQueen (Gone with the Wind), Louise Beavers (1934's Imitation of Life), and others. Black lesbian genre films are not so much in my 'wheelhouse' as a DVD/Blu-ray reviewer. I was genuinely thankful to have seen Criterion's offering as I, otherwise would, probably, never have indulged in a viewing. The Watermelon Woman was smart, funny and interesting - very much worth seeing. To hear Dunye's motivations in the supplements, as well as other commentary, was also revealing. It would be pretty easy to pre-judge this fro a lot of people - but I am encouraging you to watch it for yourself. You will, undoubtedly, be impressed.

Gary Tooze