Burning an Illusion

AroView: A young woman strives for happiness and agency over the longer term after she falls for the charms of a lovable rogue in London’s Notting Hill district.

Only the second British film to have been made by a black director and the first to give a black woman a voice of any kind, yet it’s a resounding voice that has lost none of its relevance. Like “Babylon”, made only a year earlier, it’s genuine, warm and quietly heartbreaking, with engaging performances from Cassie McFarlane, Victor Romero Evans and others.