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Originally Posted by Puck
is this a general admiration of blaxploitation films and the homage to that theme in lee's body of work? what i find so refreshing in his work is the depiction of the black female. that she can have thoughts, desires and a right to expression is unique to spike lee. of course, there had been small scale feminist films made by the black woman on female issues but spike seems to be the only black filmmaker of his generation to portray the powerful female.
i went to see 'amazing grace' last night. such a sweet and innocent portrayal of the abolition movement makes one assume how gentle life had been in 18th century england! i don't know if anyone here has seen it but my pricipal criticism of the film is centred around it lack of blackness. other than the venerable equiano and references to shackles and chains, the film seems to have been totally centred around the hymn 'amazing grace'. beautiful as the words and notes are, it felt a little too clinically white.
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I don't consider Spike Lee's movies to be "Blaxploitive" in the
Blackenstein or
Cleopatra Jones mode. His movies lack gratuiotous sex and violence, as well as the rather cheap entertainment value typical of those films. Stylistically, those films made their contributions to contemporary African American filmmaking in several different ways. Multi-angled editing, choreographed street scenes and precise use of popular music are the easily recognizable facets of that influence.
Do the Right Thing for example, can be connected to
Cotton Comes to Harlem, the 1970 classic directed by Ossie Davis, without too much difficulty. Ossie Davis also perfomed in many of the Spike Lee "Joints" including
Do the Right Thing and
Jungle Fever, not one of my favorites save the remarkable performance from Samuel L. Jackson as Gator Purify and Wesley Snipes as Flipper.
Anyway, the Yahoo dig describes
Do the Right Thing as follows:
"On a sweltering hot day in a Brooklyn neighborhood, everyone has their own issues to deal with and tensions between Blacks and Italians rise. Issues of pride and prejudice, justice and inequity come to the surface as hate and bigotry smoulder--finally building into a crescendo as it explodes into violence."
The way Spike Lee tells the story by his masterfully hip "peeling back the layers" narrative to reveal increasingly complex characters and situations, and remarkable performances from everyone involved, especially Ossie Davis, Danny Aiello, Ruby Dee, John Turturro and Rosie Perez - make it one of my favorites.
The diverse range of his style and subject matter, all executed with immaculate attention to details, make him one of my top 7 favorite Directors alongside Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, Clint Eastwood, and Zhang Yimou.
Here's a list of Spike Lee Joints:
Inside Man (2006), She Hate Me (2004), 25th Hour (2002), Jim Brown: All American (2002), Bamboozled (2000), The Original Kings of Comedy (2000), Summer of Sam (1999), He Got Game (1998), 4 Little Girls (1997), Get on the Bus (1996), Girl 6 (1996), Clockers (1995), Lumiere & Company (1995), Lumiere Et Compagnie (1995) featured director, Crooklyn (1994), Malcolm X (1992), Jungle Fever (1991), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Do the Right Thing (1989), Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1989), School Daze (1988), She's Gotta Have It (1986), The Answer (1980), Fusion (yet to be released).
I haven't seen "Amazing Grace" yet, the Nigerian film by the same name is supposed to be better.
Later.
Peace, Sohel.