★ 8 / 10
There's a homicidal maniac wandering around the neighbourhood
John Chard
There's a homicidal maniac wandering around the neighbourhood. You don't want to do anything about it? Summer of Sam is directed by Spike Lee and Lee co-writes…
There's a homicidal maniac wandering around the neighbourhood. You don't want to do anything about it?
Summer of Sam is directed by Spike Lee and Lee co-writes the screenplay with Victor Colicchio and Michael Imperioli. It stars John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito, Michael Rispoli, Saverio Guerra, Brian Tarantina, Al Palagonia, Ken Garito, Bebe Neuwirth and Michael Badalucco. Music is by Terence Blanchard and cinematography by Ellen Duras.
It was met with some indifference upon release, for many film fans went into it expecting another "Se7en" type serial killer thriller. What we get is Spike Lee doing a clinical character piece of how the residents in a South Bronx neighbourhood react to having a serial killer in their midst. It's 1977 and it's the time of the "Son of Sam" murders in New York City, mistrust and vile character traits start to come to the fore...
Lets face it, Spike Lee is often about as subtle as a sledgehammer over the head, but when it comes to characterisations - particularly when it comes to New York - he's one of the best around. He positively revels in dropping a group of unsound characters into a pressure cooker atmosphere and let them play out their respective human fallibilities. Who else could run a concurrent strand of a serial killer with a serial adulterer and produce such edgy and sly rewards?.
The musical backdrop to the plotting gives us the move from disco into the punk explosion, with the juxtaposition between good friends - Leguizamo's disco dancing philanderer and Brody's (excellent) punk rocker turning gay tricks to pay for his musical aspirations - proving to be more pivotal than "Son of Sam" (Badalucco off the chain) himself. All while the "hood" lowlifes gather themselves as an army to seek out the serial killer themselves, which unfortunately means anyone remotely not in their circle of friends is a suspect!.
It's no Lee masterpiece, for it's a touch too long and could have been trimmed by 15 minutes of pointless sexual exposition, while it sometimes feels like Lee is stuck between blaxploitation verve and mainstream appeasing ticket selling. Yet it's a bold piece of film making, with some genuinely jaw dropping sequences within. Prepare for a film that's big on characters during the reign of a serial killer and you might just appreciate Summer of Sam much more. 8/10
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★ 7 / 10
A hot mess, but engaging
gbill-74877
Spike Lee's telling of the sweltering summer of 1977 in New York, the year the Son of Sam murders gripped the city, is effective in transporting us to the era…
Spike Lee's telling of the sweltering summer of 1977 in New York, the year the Son of Sam murders gripped the city, is effective in transporting us to the era, especially with music references that span disco, pop, rock, and punk. It's also very well cast, with Mira Sorvino especially turning in a great performance, and John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, and Jennifer Esposito all strong as well.
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.
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★ 8 / 10
You can almost feel the heat and dirt on your clothes as if you were right there in hot New York City
Flagrant-Baronessa
With films like 'Inside Man' and the upcoming 'Selling Time', it appears as though Spike Lee is departing from his gritty streetwise films on racial prejudice…
With films like 'Inside Man' and the upcoming 'Selling Time', it appears as though Spike Lee is departing from his gritty streetwise films on racial prejudice, and into the pleasant commercial world of Hollywood. He stills touches upon the odd racial issue today, as is his trademark, but they seem more like mandatory inclusions than anything else, being left unexplored and unimportant. This is not saying Summer of Sam is a lecture on racism or anything (in fact, it steers away from the topic), but it fits the gritty crime-infested streets style that Lee used to do so well.
Summer of Sam brutally zooms in on an Italian-American South Bronx neighbourhood in the summer of 1977 -- the hottest summer ever, a real killer. Lee does not shy away from sex, drugs, raunchy dialogue or violence in his portrayal of the events which are based on reality of the summer nights when Sam murdered women on the streets. As the Bronx inhabitants grow anxious and suspicious of the murders, Summer of Sam focuses its story on Vinny (John Lequizamo), his marriage with Dionna (Mira Sorvino) and his friends and we see how the killings affect their lives, while plating the "Son of Sam" himself in the backseat to make room for these dynamic characters.
I can admit that there is no strong point or focus in this film, but I don't think it's entirely necessary. It's a portrayal, and a realistic one at that -- it is also a portrayal of an era, the 1970s and this is most apparent in the flashy 54-styled nightclubs that Vinny and Dionna go to. It occasionally drags on, but this is good because it emphasizes the terrible heat and anxiousness of the city, making it almost nightmarish. It is so realistic that you can almost feel the heat and dirt on your clothes as if you were right there in steaming hot New York City. I therefore feel that a great deal of praise is due to a film that succeeds in being haunting without actually dealing with the murders head-on.
8/10
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This was one movie that really blew my mind. It was more of the visual effect and music combinations that disturbed me when it was 1st released. It is a solid 6 out of 10