Charles Burnett: Two Early Shorts

Both by Charles Burnett
Several Friends (1969, '21): Burnett's framings are pretty close much of the time. His style is handheld often, but not shaky. For times he does move further away, the camera is pretty still. The takes are long enough, but he can analyse the same scene from different angles. One thing about his framing is a willingess of cut people's heads at the side; if two are juxtaposed on opposite sides of the frame, we needn't get all of both their cheeks.
With dialogue pretty low in the mix it's hard to hear, and the language for someone of my background is tough to get a grip on. We get the idea though; people aren't so much hangin' out, they're busy and getting on with things, but we get the rythm of life.
The Horse (1973, '7): Like a Carson McCullers or a Flannery O'Connor short story, a pretty gothic tale from the American South. The framings are pretty precise here, in the black shade that doesn't really protext from the hot air. We have body shots of the men, then can move closer to finally extreme close-ups of the boy.
Also note the inventive early sequence, where we are introduced by the repeated shots of people's feet. A nice entry to the locale, persona, place.
As a short story, we have symbolism here in this tiny tale, as well as a direct confrontation across races, and violence.