Finally saw this Joint...

First off, let me say that I'm a huge Spike Lee fan, so take that for what it is, and I'm happy he's back making movies (this, Bad25, and Oldboy) after a 4-year absence following Miracle at St. Anna. Dude is too fu/king talented as a fimmaker to not be making films.

Now on to Red Hook Summer. Red Hook Summer is what I would call "minor Lee". I would place it in 2nd or 3rd Tier in Lee's filmography, around films like Crooklyn, School Daze, Jungle Fever, films like that are good but flawed films that don't have the powerful impact like his masterpieces like Malcolm X, Do The Right Thing, 25th Hour, He Got Game, etc. I also call it "Minor Lee" because its a very small film, shot for only $1 million dollars, and smaller in scope than his other films.

Red Hook Summer is a spiritual companion to Do The Right thing, as far as its framework and structure. It shows a community, and shines a light on the interesting characters that live there, in this case, the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, as supposed to Bedford-Stuyvesant which was Do The Right Thing's setting. And we meet these characters through the eyes of young Flik Royale, who's been dropped off by his mother, to spend the summer with his grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse. Flik, an Atheist, who lost his father in the War in Afghanistan, from the get-go shows his disapproval of being in Red Hook, and his wish to go home. From the start, there's tension between him and Enoch, as Enoch wants to teach him about the word of God, while Flik just wants to be on is IPAD2, which he makes known the "little box" is actually called. Despite his disapproval, Enoch drags him to the church (cutely called Lil' Peace of Heaven Baptist Church) to help out, and to hear his sermons. There he meets interesting characters like Chazz, a young girl who he eventually befrieds throughtout the film, and Deacon Zee, a drunk deacon of the church, who spouts off drunk rants on how nigg/s are stupid for not buying stock in Apple when it was 30 cents a share and now it costs $300/share. The majority of the film shows Flik and Chazz exploring the community and interacting with the residents. This includes Box, leader of the local Red Hook gang, The Bloods, who attended Enoch's church growing up with his mom, but has fallen out, to "hustle in hell", Deacon Yancy, another deacon of the church, Chazz's mom etc. All the while also detailing the relationship between Flik and Enoch, with Enoch trying to tell him about God's love and to trust in God, while Flik doesn't want any part of it.

This leads to the climatic final act of the film, that goes in a totally different direction then what you were expecting from the first two acts. This was the most talked about aspect of the film, and it divided opinion accordingly. Let me just say that from my point of view, I understood and brought the final act, in the context of the film, and I saw what Lee was going for. Without going into spoilers, you see this all the time when Pillars of a community (Activists, Politicians, Pastors/Reverends) etc., who gather a following do something so wrong, but initially and time thereafter their congregation, followers, friends, or whatever refuse to believe it, and that disbelief turns into anger. And imo, I think that's what Lee was going for with the final act of Red Hook. It's a powerful final act, that will force you to have an opinion about, either for or against that scene in the context of the film, but powerful none the less.


Now for the positives:

- Clarke Peters, as the Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse, is nothing short of a revelation in this film. This is easily the best work of his film/tv career, and IMO superior to the work he did on The Wire as Lester Freamon (and believe me I'm a huge fan of The Wire). You see a man, who loves his community, and sees the touch of God and its beauty, in the most simplest things. A deeply religious man, who loves his grandson despite never meeting him before, Clarke Peters shows facets of his acting craft, I honestly didn't think he had. He was nothing short of marvelous during the sermon scenes (there's about 3-4, so you seem him do his thing), giving powerful oratory sermons, and showing both serious and charming aspects about himself, and even had comedic elements in one of his sermons ("YOU GOT TO WASH YO HANDZ"). Peters, was also brilliant, in the scenes with Flik, as he showed facets of a man that cares about his grandson, and just wants the best for him, just from a pastor's/religious point of view, hence trying to get Flik the accept God in his heart and life. All this makes the final act more powerful, and ultimately heatbreaking, when you see the sins the man committed, and his accounting for those sins (you'll see that when you see the film) and how his reputation with his grandson and the community, is affected forever. There's a reason why Clarke Peters was ranked #3 by Time Magazine's Richard Corliss of the 10 best film performances of 2012, and #9 in the top 10 Leading Actor performances in the Village Voice poll. Clarke Peters gives the film it's heart, and ulimately it's sorrow as well. He was superior to Bradley Cooper's work in Silver Linings Playbook, and DDL in Lincoln. This performance deserves an Oscar nomination imo. He was that great.

- The thing I always liked about Spike Lee films is how he always mixes comic, or light-hearted elements in his films. From Do The Right Thing, to Malcolm X, Clockers, Bamboozled, 25th Hour, He Got Game, and now Red Hook, Lee always has elements of comedy or light heartedness in his films, and he does it here as well. Thomas Jefferson Byrd, as Deacon Zee, was an interesting and often hillarious character, with his drunk rants, and stumbling about, and beneath that, you see a tired old man, who's frustrated with the plight of his community, and its residents. Underrated work. I can see a whole movie being made just about him. Also the the sermon, with the "YOU GOT TO WASH YO HANDZ" context, had me laughing out loud as well. I always liked that aspect of Lee's work. He doesn't do just depressing, gritty, films, with no humor in them. His films are an amalgam of different things, and I like that about his work.

- I also like the camera shots, and coloring of his film. One of the things I always felt Spike Lee was underrated was in his style and aesthetic vision. He's one of the few American filmmakers who have always been so relentlessly innovative, yet he never gets named alongside guys like Terrence Malick, Martin Scorsese, or David Lynch when it comes to pure visual mastery. His films feel alive and interesting with the visuals, and seems to not know how to make a boring shot. And to me he does that hear as well with Red Hook Summer. Even with the limited finances, he made a $1 million dollar film, look visually pleasing, and shows again why he's one the best visual masters we have in American cinema. He even has his legendary dolly shot (and picked an interesting scene to use it) in there for us Spike Lee fans.


Negatives

- I've seen this in other reviews, but after seeing the film, and looking at the big picture, I still don't understand why the Flik's mother dropped her son off at Enoch's in the first place, and from looking at the opening scene, and seeing her interaction with her father, its easy to spell out she knows what happened in his past. The film never makes clear what her motivation was, but in fairness, she's ultimately just a minor character in this film. Just wished McBride and Lee would have came up with a different way for Flik to spend his time in Red Hook and with Enoch.

- The Child Actors. Now I know Spike was doing guerilla filmmaking with this, and has said he found the actors at his old middle school, with an acting teacher he respects, but the actors he got to play Flik and Chazz brought the film down imo. Jules Brown and Toni Lysaith, have no charisma or charm whatsoever, and their acting was so mediocre, I was half expecting them to look off-camera at the cuecards, somebody was holding for them to say their lines. The fact that a big aspect of the film is their evolving relationship, makes these choices for these actors even worse. I'm not sure what kind of timeline, Spike was on to get this film shot and everything, but he could have used more time to get better child actors, that showed better chemistry, considering the movie hinges on the characters' relationship. If it wasn't for Clarke Peters, I don't know how much worse the film would have been, on the acting front.


- Not enough Nate Parker. I was glad to see Nate work with Spike, but his part really isn't that big in the film. What he does have to work with, you can see the edginess and chip on his shoulder attitude that Denzel had with Glory (yep I compared Denzel and Nate), and his screen presence can't be denied. If Hollywood had any progressive balls whatsoever, they should try to push Nate Parker as much as they do Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum, Garrett Hudlund or whoever else from his generation. From what I've seen of Parker, if he gets the opportunity, I think he can end up being a better actor than Ryan Gosling. Nate Parker in a lead role in a Spike Lee film would be great.


Other than that the other actors were decent. Colman Domingo was great in his limited screentime, and is it me or am I starting to see Stephen Henderson everywhere after he did Fences with Denzel on Broadway in 2010. He's alot more of a stage actor, and has few film credits to his name, but it seems after Fences, I'm seeing him everywhere (Tower Heist, Red Hook Summer, Lincoln, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and The Newsroom). I guess being associated with the great Denzel in anything can boost your career from what it was before.

So all that being said, its a minor Lee film, but I look at it as a step in Spike Lee coming back. Oldboy next year hopefully will be the next step, and I look forward to Spike Lee coming back to his stature when he had Inside Man as a hit, and then When the Levees Broke, when he had more cache and studio wanting him for different projects. 4 years is too long for him not making films, and I'm thrilled he's back.