"Looking for Langston" tells the story of African American Poet Langston Hughes and his life and consequences within the black gay culture. The film is presented as a reflection on Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance going on during that time period. The 1980's showed a rise in the queer civil rights movement as well as the AIDS epidemic which Looking for Langston tells the story of. Director Isaac Julien seamlessly merges the documentary footage of the Harlem Renaissance along with the scripted scenes that are interpretations of the works of Langston Hughes as well as the other artists. The film soon dives into an underworld of this all black male, homosexual Harlem movement. Julien draws upon music, poetry, and film to celebrate identity and desire within the Harlem Renaissance. Julien uses these materials in order to effectively relate the issues of discrimination, isolation, love, fear and desire to the audience in order to paint this image of a dark, obscure world. This film represents an interesting dynamic between that of the viewer and the one being viewed. It succeeds in holding a relatively strong bond between "the self" and "the other". It does this through having "the self" captivated through the desires of "the other" and having the viewer disconnected, or kept at a distance from the idealized other. The film creates a sense of transience which is effectively organized by virtue of "desire." .
Looking for Langston is a very genuine search for Black gay male desire. It is Langston Hughes search for a Black gay male identity. And the past plays a key role in Hughes search for desire. Isaac Julien clearly indicates throughout the film that its reflection on the past is the direct result of concerns regarding the present. The film holds a strong juxtaposition between the past and the present. And the audience gets a sense of Hughes's strive for understanding the unknown and looking for the present desire all while in a moment of danger.