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BobbyDPacino's Replies
Also the soundtrack- was VERY VERY Tarantino with a capital TARANTINO. Without being redundant, it was embarrassingly derivative of Tarantino. The dancing scene with the Cornelius Brothers and the lead actress with her 1970 gold oval tinted glasses felt staged and unnatural. I'm a huge Cornelius Brothers fan and a huge Looking Glass fan too, so when "Brandy" played I felt it was gratuitous. Easy. And again, very Quentin Tarantino, and not in a kind of sort of complimentary influential way- I'm talking direct theft.
I think the film fails to convincingly convey the authenticity of a period piece. It was embarrassingly obvious, like for example the token historic vehicles used in street scenes. I mean every vehicle was a historically preserved perfect shiny Ford Pinto or Chevy Nova, and it was obvious these were historic vehicles garage-kept and waxed regularly. That's not what they looked like in 1971. They were dirty just like everything else. And the props were obvious and blatant, like for example the "NIXON AGNEW' poster in the interior of a Klansman's home. Most important though was the sense of believability was vacant and missing, and yes I'm well aware it's "based on a true story." But that means nothing in the world of filmmaking. and Spike Lee, who was once a great filmmaker, knows that. The director needs to make magic. I just feel Lee didn't do that here, and in fact didn't come close. It's worth mentioning however, the lead actor John David Washington is fascinating. He has his own individual charisma and magnetism, which he clearly inherited from his father but it comes out in a new and unique way. Really the only saving grace fora real disappointment of a film.
The inner torment Adam Driver's character supposedly is going through over his Judaism was revolting and not at all believable. It was a reach for Adam Driver and even more of a reach for Spike Lee, who has a history of not understanding American Jews and caricaturing them in derogatory fashion in his films. It needs to be mentioned because in the film it is the lynchpin connecting the suffering of Blacks with Jews, which is, as the film tries, the supposedly common ground the two lead actors share. But it's just not believable. The struggle of Jewish people is utterly lost on Spike Lee, and this blind spot can be seen quite clearly & painfully in "BlacKkKlansman." It's bad acting and badly rendered. Only John David Washington made it bearable but even he could not prevent me from walking out early.