La versión de Spike Lee de los asesinatos de "El hijo de Sam" en Nueva York durante el verano de 1977 se centra en los habitantes de un vecindario italoamericano al noreste del Bronx que viv... Leer todoLa versión de Spike Lee de los asesinatos de "El hijo de Sam" en Nueva York durante el verano de 1977 se centra en los habitantes de un vecindario italoamericano al noreste del Bronx que viven con miedo y desconfían unos de otros.La versión de Spike Lee de los asesinatos de "El hijo de Sam" en Nueva York durante el verano de 1977 se centra en los habitantes de un vecindario italoamericano al noreste del Bronx que viven con miedo y desconfían unos de otros.
- Dirección
- Guionistas
- Elenco
- Premios
- 7 nominaciones en total
- Mario
- (as Arthur Nascarella)
Opiniones destacadas
The focus of the movie is an insular community of Italian-Americans. Mistrust rules the roost: the only thing close-knit about them is an occasional cheesy tank-top. Fear and conformity underpin the set-pieces upon which Lee thrives, from cops meeting a Mafia chief (Ben Gazarra) to a half-hearted Studio 54-style orgy. John Leguizamo thrives when passing himself off as John Travolta, but his marriage is a hollow sham. His quest for redemption hinges on saving punk friend Ritchie (Adrien Brody) from both himself and the lynchmob they grew up with.
Summer of Sam has invited comparisons with Do the Right Thing, on account of its portrayal of the simmering tensions building up to horrendous violence. Yet the lifestyles on show throughout make it closer to Scorsese's Mean Streets, albeit balanced by several strong female leads, notably Mira Sorvino. At 142 minutes it has stretched the attention span of some viewers and reviewers, but as the closing credits roll Lee has got us to care about the characters as each boils over. Ditching the irksome music video/sitcom visuals - even at a Late-term Abortions gig, with Ritchie on guitar - this is Spike Lee's most mature joint to date.
Graham Barnfield
Lee's tale has the actually serial killer in the background, an interesting idea that allowed him to focus on the evils of the citizens in the neighborhood: little bits of racism and homophobia, a good dose of misogyny and the double standard in the attitude and philandering of a married guy (Leguizamo), and most effectively, the turning loose of the mob to both loot during the blackouts, and to target individuals unfairly deemed suspects in the killings, like the guy from the neighborhood who wants to be a punk rocker (Brody).
Unfortunately, Lee got a little overindulgent in focusing on these people, and aside from creating characters that sometimes seemed like shallow clichés, the script veered too often into sexual antics. The married couple going from his numerous affairs to her trying to please him through dressing up, asking for sexual advice, going to an orgy, etc felt like a little much. The friend who aside from wanting to be a punk rocker also dances provocatively and services men in a gay nightclub did too. You could say this is a hot mess of a film, and at 142 minutes, it went on too long.
With that said, I was always engaged, and found Lee's memory of this period (he was 20 in 1977) to have a certain intimacy, one with a refreshing darkness that contrasts the buoyant songs of the day, any semblance of sentimentality reserved only for his beloved New York Yankees. Speaking of which, I loved the lines speculating that the killer might be Reggie Jackson - the Son of Sam, Uncle Sam, New York Yankee wearing #44, the caliber of the handgun used.
Unfortunately, many of the subsidiary characters, who surround these two and keep pulling us away from them, emerge as little more than ethnic and sexual stereotypes, from the neighborhood mob boss (Ben Gazarra) to the loving-father drug dealer to the punk rock iconoclast to the local flaming "fairy." Not even strong performances by a game cast can infuse these roles with the depth and humanity necessary to justify their inclusion in the film.
Stylistically, this film is much less visually flashy than previous Lee works with less elaborate camerawork and only the occasional near-subliminal quick cuts (used to convey memories) to distract us. Lee should, also, have avoided at all costs the temptation to cast himself as an on-site news reporter. Even more egregiously, why oh why did Lee feel compelled to visualize literally (through animatronics) the demon dog that Berkowitz reportedly cited as the motivation for his crimes actually barking out instructions to the crazed psychopath?
The risk in these docudramas is that the moviemakers will not be able to match, in their narrative, the compelling nature of the actual events upon which they are based. Lee's film is no exception, for just as the killer is captured, the fictional side of the story resolves itself in a flurry of heavy handed "Ox Bow Incident" melodramatics, scarcely credible even for a cadre of characters as lacking in common sense as these are. "Summer of Sam" is notable for the performances of John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino in the central roles, its disco-drenched soundtrack and its letter-perfect recreation of a particular moment in recent American history. What a shame, then, that the film never really coheres into a satisfying whole.
¿Sabías que…?
- TriviaSpike Lee was facing a lot of negative feedback from the family members of the victims who didn't want a film being made which might glorify the killer in some manner. As a result, the script had to be changed which focused more on the community than the killer himself. "Son of Sam" was rumored to be the original working title.
- ErroresAt the beginning of the movie, set in the summer of 1977, characters are seen dancing in a disco to the song "There But For the Grace of God Go I" by Machine. The song wasn't recorded until 1979.
- Citas
Vinny: Come on, get in the car. Please, baby.
Dionna: Baby? Don't you dare "baby" me! I'm gonna wait here! I'm gonna wait here until somebody comes along. You know what? I'm gonna wait here until some soul brother comes along in his big black Cadillac. And you know and I know that he's got a big black dick too.
Vinny: Don't talk like that, just get inside the car.
Dionna: Oh, fuck you!
Vinny: Please, please, don't make me have to beg you. Get in the car. Come on- don't make me have to hurt you.
Dionna: Hurt me? Don't you even fuckin' lay a pinkie on me! I'll get him to kick your ass and then I'll fuck 'em! You wanna watch Vinny? Will that turn you on Vinny? You linguine dick mother fucker. You wanna watch while I suck a big black dick in the back of a big black cadillac?
- Créditos curiososThe credits are in the form of newspaper headlines.
- Versiones alternativasAfter they are refused entry into Studio 54, the sex scene between Dionna (Mira Sorvino) and Vinny (John Leguizamo) included more explicit shots in the original cut. This scene was edited a bit after the MPAA threatened the film with an "NC-17" rating.
- ConexionesEdited into Doggiewoggiez! Poochiewoochiez! (2012)
- Bandas sonorasFernando
Written by Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson and Björn Ulvaeus (as Bjorn Ulvaeus)
Performed by ABBA
Courtesy of Polar Music International AB
Under license from Universal Music Special Markets
Selecciones populares
Detalles
- Fecha de lanzamiento
- País de origen
- Idiomas
- También se conoce como
- Summer of Sam
- Locaciones de filmación
- Bronx, Nueva York, Nueva York, Estados Unidos(On Morris Park Ave. between Williamsbridge Rd. and Bronxdale Ave.)
- Productoras
- Ver más créditos de la compañía en IMDbPro
Taquilla
- Presupuesto
- USD 22,000,000 (estimado)
- Total en EE. UU. y Canadá
- USD 19,288,130
- Fin de semana de estreno en EE. UU. y Canadá
- USD 5,952,452
- 4 jul 1999
- Total a nivel mundial
- USD 19,288,130
- Tiempo de ejecución2 horas 22 minutos
- Color
- Mezcla de sonido
- Relación de aspecto
- 1.85 : 1