Blackouts, baseball, drugs, disco, sex and serial killings. Spike Lee's SUMMER OF SAM is a little bit of everything. The verve is in place. Unfortunately, some bad research and abysmal stereotypes detract from Lee's best film in a decade.
The ensemble cast is great. John Leguiziamo in particular stands out as a man whose infidelity and definition of loyalty conspire to bring him apart. His sorry anti-hero is a wonderful throwback to the daring school of seventies filmmaking that Lee pays homage to.
The potential is great, and the nature of both script and narrative promise an unpredictable ride. But whoever told Lee that The Who were the seminal punk rock band was playing a really bad joke. It can't help but detract the action. There are also some silly racial stereotypes (the Italian community is represented as little more than a lynch-mob).
A director as racially conscious as Spike Lee surely shouldn't set himself up for a critical battering in such an obvious manner but he does.
When it comes to editing though, he is in his element. Lee mixes film stocks and mediums, and the tone switches well throughout. It isn't Mean Streets, of course, but SUMMER OF SAM is a welcome treat - seeing a brave, if frequently maligned director stick his neck out.
The ensemble cast is great. John Leguiziamo in particular stands out as a man whose infidelity and definition of loyalty conspire to bring him apart. His sorry anti-hero is a wonderful throwback to the daring school of seventies filmmaking that Lee pays homage to.
The potential is great, and the nature of both script and narrative promise an unpredictable ride. But whoever told Lee that The Who were the seminal punk rock band was playing a really bad joke. It can't help but detract the action. There are also some silly racial stereotypes (the Italian community is represented as little more than a lynch-mob).
A director as racially conscious as Spike Lee surely shouldn't set himself up for a critical battering in such an obvious manner but he does.
When it comes to editing though, he is in his element. Lee mixes film stocks and mediums, and the tone switches well throughout. It isn't Mean Streets, of course, but SUMMER OF SAM is a welcome treat - seeing a brave, if frequently maligned director stick his neck out.