Posing as a white man over the phone, Stallworth (John David Washinngton) manages to be recruited by former Klan Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace), and sends his white coworker (Adam Driver) to be formally inducted. The story follows Colarado’s Springs Police Department's first Black officer, who takes on a potentially fatal job: infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan. My personal favourite, Blackkklansman (2018) is a biographical comedy crime film, based on Ron Stallworth’s memoir. Thirty one years since its release, this film is horrifically relevant to the summer of 2020, again rendering the works of Lee as eternally meaningful and incredibly necessary.īlacKkKlansman (2018) John David Washington and Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman (2018) ![]() This becomes an obvious symbol of racism, culminating in a ploy to destroy the restaurant.Įventually, an inevitable tragedy occurs when police officers murder the innocent and enigmatic Radio Raheem (William Goldwyn Nunn III). The plot is simple enough Buggin Out (Giancarlo Esposito) becomes upset upon discovering the local Italian pizzeria displays no black actors on its wall of fame. The film combines all elements of a classic Lee joint: a fleet of idiosyncratic characters, an influx of dazzling primary colours, and an attempt to capture one neighbourhood’s simmering racial tension. In one of my favourite opening scenes ever, Do the Right Thing starts with a generous four minute dance by Rosie Perez to the incredibly adpt ‘Fight the Power’ by Public Enemy, which was actually written at the request of Spike Lee. It makes sense, therefore, that Lee created a 2017 Netflix comedy television series based on and using the same title as She’s Gotta Have It, expanding on and updating notions of black femininity.ĭo the Right Thing (1989) Spike Lee and Danny Aiello in Do the Right Thing (1989) | Courtesy of IMDb Similarly groundbreaking in the inherent act of positioning a polyamorous Black woman as the lead of his first film, it's safe to say the concept was way ahead of its time. Shot largely in black and white, the scenes are consistently intimate, revolutionising black sexuality onscreen in its celebration of Nola’s body. The protagonist is Nola Darling, who immediately breaks the fourth wall to tell us she doesn’t ‘believe in labels.’ We then meet her three lovers, one of whom is none other than a young Spike Lee playing the comical Mars Blackmon, beginning a tradition of making cameos in his own films. Entirely devoid of brutality, the film begins with a brooding jazz score and succession of nostalgic photographs of children on swings and playing on the streets of Fort Greene, Brooklyn. In many ways, Lee’s first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It (1986) is anything but what you probably have come to expect from the director. She's Gotta Have It (1986) Spike Lee and Tracy Camilla Johns in She's Gotta Have It (1986) | Courtesy of IMDb Spike Lee’s filmography has grown increasingly bold since the early nineties, each feature digging deeper to represent Black experiences in America Emphasising shocking violence like this has become a trademark of Lee’s signature style, which is characterised by activism and rage. ![]() His most recent ‘joint’, Da 5 Bloods (2020), epitomises this sense of uneasy urgency, following a squad of Black US Army soldiers who return to Vietnam decades later, with spliced in shots of real mutilated Vietnamese bodies. Its opening scene depicts the US flag aflame, with Denzel Washington’s voiceover intact: ‘We’ve experienced only the American nightmare.’ Spike Lee in Clockers (1995) | Courtesy of IMDb His decision to adapt the Nation of Islam’s spokesman Malcolm X’s autobiography, was an early hallmark of this. Spike Lee’s filmography has grown increasingly bold since the early nineties, each feature digging deeper to represent Black experiences in America, despite the uncomfortable reckoning this may have for some white viewers. The Oscars have historically been castigated for awarding Best Picture to the likes of Green Book (2018) and its aged equivalent Driving Miss Daisy (1989), both examples of the ever problematic ‘race reconciliation movie.’ The latter won 5 Academy Awards, the same year Spike Lee’s seminal Do the Right Thing (1989) was practically ignored much to the alarm of many including actress Kim Bassinger, who actually called out the snub in her speech: ‘There is one film missing from this list, that deserves to be on it, because ironically, it might tell the biggest truth of all.’ By Tilly Long, Third Year, English LiteratureĬertainly one of Hollywood’s most unique artistic voices, the films (often referred to as Spike Lee joints) of Spike Lee only grow more relevant as the years progress.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |