Writers: Lamin Leroy Gibba, Sophia Ayissi, Naomi Kelechi Odhiambo, Lisa Tracy Michalik and Sarah Claire Wray
Directors: Elisha Smith-Leverock and David Ụzọchukwu
An unbroken four-hour screening proved a surprise to several audience members who had arrived in person to watch the UK premiere of German series Black Fruit (Schwarze Früchte) co-directed by Elisha Smith-Leverock and David Ụzọchukwu following the experience of friends Lalo (Lamin Leroy Gibba) and Karla (Melodie Simina) whose work, family and love lives implode across eight 30-minute episodes. Leaning into the emotional catastrophes of being a 20-something still trying to understand yourself, UK viewers will recognise the influence of comedies like Sharon Horgan’s Pulling and more recently Michaela Cole’s I May Destroy You and Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie as the characters search for understanding in their chaotic urban worlds.
Reluctantly taken to meet his boyfriend Tobias’ parents, an awkward dinner party ensues as Lalo’s race and heritage become the major topic of conversation. When the couple decide to take a break soon afterwards, Lalo’s Hamburg world starts to crumble when he discovers his best friend is leaving for Paris and his mum wants to throw out his dad’s things. Meanwhile friend Karla is adjusting to a big promotion at work but struggles to hold it together when her younger sister announces an expected pregnancy.
Black Fruit has a formula and, across the first three episodes at least, puts Lalo in at least one excruciating conversation about race with a white person who both imposes an idea of what they think his experience should be based on his skin colour but also assumes that the character is as interested in the questions of identity as they seem to be. From assuming an understanding of cultural trauma to wanting him to express an Afro-German uniqueness, Lalo’s internal frustrations and need to play along rather than cause a scene offer a recurring commentary on the different forms of racism prevalent in contemporary societies – most notably when Tobias’ mother relishes the idea of a trauma story that Lalo may have experienced while making racially loaded assumptions herself.
The show, co-written by Leroy Gibba, Sophia Ayissi, Naomi Kelechi Odhiambo, Lisa Tracy Michalik and Sarah Claire Wray is honest about sex and the sometimes perfunctory, unsatisfactory experience it can provide in an unbalanced relationship. These more unnerving portrayals of sex acts are more commonplace now thanks to the above series and films like How to Have Sex, and the directors’ focus on the inequality in these intimate moments where one character is exploited by another. It’s all consensual but nonetheless uncomfortable.
If you want to know what happens beyond episode three then there is another chance to see the full series in a four-hour marathon at BFI Flare, although a more digestible approach is probably recommended. It’s not quite groundbreaking television, not anymore, but Black Fruit adds another dimension to the confessional television comedy-drama genre.
Black Fruit is screening at BFI Flare 2025 from 19-30 March.
