Red Hook Summer

Gone are the days when Spike Lee "wants to shove blackness down the throats of white audiences" (the vein in which black filmmakers are viewed when they tell the truth in colors other than rose). Though his films are not seen,promoted or viewed with the same verve as his earlier work--like Malcolm X and Do The Right Thing--this has more to do with Hollywood politics more than a falling off in skill. In fact, Spike's finest work, in the eyes of this critic, have been his latest works including The 25th Hour, Chiraq.Old Boy and Miracle at St. Anna.

Red Hook Summer fits comfortably into that pack, Like the aforementioned films, it is more emotion-focused rather than characterized by keen cinematography. It is thought-provoking, rather than a release of anger, as his critics typically accuse him of.

The story centers on a teenage boy (Flik) and his relationship with his preacher grandfather,who hides a horrible secret. The subplot features his interaction with a young female friend--a "thing" centered more on curiosity than romance, and Flik's navigation of an unfamiliar hood far tougher than the one he comes from..

It is a compelling coming of age tale, featuring a wonderful performance by Toni Lysaith as Chazz, a girl unafraid to speak her mind and who is the only one who "gets" Flik. There is none of the syrupy, blossoming love that hamstrings so many other films, just exploration of the burgeoning friendship between two people, who in that simple process discover something different.

I caught this via On Demand and was glad I took a chance on it. Spike deserves better than he gets, and having to fund films via kick starter is definitely sand kicked in the face of one of the great filmmakers, black or white, of this generation.

A middle-class boy from Atlanta is forced to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather in a poor housing project in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Spike Lee wrote and directed this boring tale. This rambling tale gets very tiresome. Did Spike Lee turn anti-religion? The story turns even uglier with a twist that comes out of nowhere. I'm uncertain about what is happening to Spike Lee. After great successes in the 90s and the 2000s, is he on the road to big time experimentation? What is going on? I don't get it. This movie is a mess. Maybe it's some kind of personal project. But even then, I'd expect more skills than he's showing here.

...Clarke Peters (Freemon from HBO's "The Wire") should get an Oscar nomination for this. His performance is at once over-the-top and understated as a Brooklyn pastor who seemingly is a righteous pillar of a community that continues to wane under material violence and generational malaise. However this 'man-of-black-jesus' is hiding a terrifying secret that lifts what is at first another half-cliché movie about coming-of-age into unexpected darker and deeper territory. It makes "Red Hook Summer" into a risky, uncomfortable film and a film quite necessary in this day and age when institutions will blanket even the sickest of monsters to save their own public rep (I won't get more specific, but the contemporary story I'm alluding to concerns a man who's last name rhymes with 'Sam Clusky'). Aside from Peters, the film is worth watching for the loving touches Spike Lee brings to the setting. The music (by Bruce Hornsby), design and photography perfectly capture Brooklyn in the summertime in the same way "Crooklyn" did. Although Lee's approach, which here resembles Cassavettes at times, will upset some due to the obvious shot-on-the-fly-digital look and the after-mentioned below-par performances of the child actors.

This isn't Spike Lee's greatest film but by the end it has become one of his most intriguing. The children's performances are poor, but so are their characters; Lee doesn't have the kind of empathy needed to write for or direct child actors (and this is true of Crooklyn too). The film is also largely plot less, but as the film progresses it becomes clear that a traditional plot would undermine the film's themes. Red Hook Summer is about faith and human growth, subjects that aren't neat or linear.

By no means a perfect film, Red Hook Summer deserves more attention than it has received.

I can see why Spike Lee keeps succeeding in the face of so much critical negativity. This movie may not reflect your life, your upbringing or circumstances, it does however reflect an otherwise hidden existence that Spike Lee brought to life. Well done. Worth watching.