In the black urban jungle of NY young black men earn an easy living selling drugs around the clock (hence the title). However a turf dispute leads to murder and unwanted attention from the police.
I take my hat off to Spike Lee because he takes on difficult subjects and usually produces a film that is at least watchable out of them. Taking on the street drug scene in NY was hardly going to get him Oscar nominations or front covers - but the film is serious, modestly interesting and just occasionally insightful.
The film is born in to bondage because no one has much of a capacity for change and we know all the rules of roughhouse urban life (or get up to speed quickly here). Strangely I expected the world to be harsher and more squalid, the setting of Summer makes the place seem almost pleasant.
The central murder is almost a throwaway, like it tacked on to try and build suspense and introduce the white cops (the kind of role that Harvey Kietel can play in his sleep) to this black vicinity. Remember the "no drama without conflict" rule? Ok - just checking!
The lead Strike (Mekhi Phifer) is not someone to feel sorry for, despite his stomach ulcers and life of self-created danger. The local drug boss (played by Delroy Lindo) and store owner is no cliché and has some insights about his dangerous product. Some might even see him as an entrepreneur that is only playing by rules of the street - although I certainly don't!
This is really a small film and doesn't really measure up to earlier "life in the 'hood" movies which had some novelty value and somewhere to go. This movie rather sits and stews in its own juice, like a prison movie. Things get resolved and people are steered in the right direction, but you are left with a giant feeling that this a film about lives that are without hope or without satisfaction. The dye has long been set. Lee trys to pretend that, maybe, it is not by the closing scenes - but I am not buying it.
Check out the Brazilain movie Pixote to see where certain plot lines are borrowed from.
I take my hat off to Spike Lee because he takes on difficult subjects and usually produces a film that is at least watchable out of them. Taking on the street drug scene in NY was hardly going to get him Oscar nominations or front covers - but the film is serious, modestly interesting and just occasionally insightful.
The film is born in to bondage because no one has much of a capacity for change and we know all the rules of roughhouse urban life (or get up to speed quickly here). Strangely I expected the world to be harsher and more squalid, the setting of Summer makes the place seem almost pleasant.
The central murder is almost a throwaway, like it tacked on to try and build suspense and introduce the white cops (the kind of role that Harvey Kietel can play in his sleep) to this black vicinity. Remember the "no drama without conflict" rule? Ok - just checking!
The lead Strike (Mekhi Phifer) is not someone to feel sorry for, despite his stomach ulcers and life of self-created danger. The local drug boss (played by Delroy Lindo) and store owner is no cliché and has some insights about his dangerous product. Some might even see him as an entrepreneur that is only playing by rules of the street - although I certainly don't!
This is really a small film and doesn't really measure up to earlier "life in the 'hood" movies which had some novelty value and somewhere to go. This movie rather sits and stews in its own juice, like a prison movie. Things get resolved and people are steered in the right direction, but you are left with a giant feeling that this a film about lives that are without hope or without satisfaction. The dye has long been set. Lee trys to pretend that, maybe, it is not by the closing scenes - but I am not buying it.
Check out the Brazilain movie Pixote to see where certain plot lines are borrowed from.