This is currently one of my most anticipated movies coming up this summer. SUMMER OF SAM has been said to be the best film Spike Lee has made... period. Others say it's his best film in 10 years... (DO THE RIGHT THING 1989) So... Suffice to say... the word is that this is a GREAT FILM, and folks... pile into the theater to see this one. The trailer is great, the buzz is electric and it looks like Spike is set to kick our asses! Here's Cichlisuite....
'Summer Of Spike'
-Cichlisuite-
This is a difficult film to talk about. "Summer Of Sam" is the film and Spike Lee is the co-writer/producer/director. Spike has created one of the best American masterpieces of the 90's. Harrowing, Disturbing, Chaotic, Mesmerizing, Dizzying, etc. These are only a few words that pop in to my mind when attempting to think about what I saw this evening. Imagery so brutal and penetrating I almost felt like rewinding the film to register what I had just seen. To put it short, "Summer Of Sam" is a very bold picture that needs to be seen more than once to really get a grip of what's going on.
The cast was unbelievable. John Leiguzamo deserves a place among the best actors of our generation. His portrayal of Vinnie was compelling beyond words. Him along with co-star Adrien Brody have created two electrifying characters that inhabit the strange, nihilistic times of 1977 in the Bronx. The setting is the brutal summer of David Berkowitz', Son of Sam, horrifying and calculated killings. The story is almost too difficult to describe. The main characters are Vinnie (Leuigazamo) and Richie (Brody) who come from the same famiglia in the Bronx. Vinnie is stil hanging with the gang and Richie comes back in town with a punk rock look and a faux British attitude. The ole' gang is freaked out and can't figure out what's gotten into him. Vinnie, who's married to Mira Sorvino's character, is cheating on her constantly and on top of it has to deal with Mira's suspicions is also in charge of keeping an eye on Richard and firguring out his new persona. Meanwhile, Sam is terrorzing the neighborhood and freaking out Vinnie, Richard and their gang of family and friends. They decide to gang up with the local mob head, played fantastically by Ben Gazarra and find the Son Of Sam. What follows ahead is a dizzing array of shocking imagery, sexual experimentation, violent and chatoic people trying to deal with their equally and violent lives and an entire city bent on decadence and self destruction. The film it iself was alive, psychedelic, vibrant and emotionally devestating. There were points I wanted to cry for the safety of these people of whom I've never met. They were almost too real, too involving. I got chills watching the trailer a few hours later on TV. Spike uses many grains of film (ala 'He Got Game') to set various moods and situations and pulls it off much better. The film was not too colorful, not to flamboyant, but just enough to suck you in to it's bizarre and often unsettling imagery. Spike even makes a cameo as a reporter covering the action in the Bronx and Brookly. I also have to give a nod to the female leads played by Mira Sorvino and Jennifer Esposito. Both gave wonderful portraits of two Italian women dealing with the masculine society they live in. The rest of the cast, mostly people I don't know the names of, also left scars on my psyche.
Like Boogie Nights, Good Fellas, Pulp Fiction, Happiness and other brilliant dissections of human life and struggle, Summer of Sam will shake you and take you on an unbelievable ride of hypnotizing filmmaking and dead on commentary. Spike Lee has made his 'Do The Right Thing' for the 90's. It's bleak, funny and downright disgusting at times, yet it's still a modern masterpiece. If this film doesn't garner serious Academy attention, then I will have lost all hope for the voters (as if I haven't already so many times before :)
-Cichlisuite-
