[RED HOOK SUMMER screens Wednesday December 12th at 6:45 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
Review by Bob Ignizio
Spike Lee's RED HOOK SUMMER
starts out as a fairly typical coming of age story. 13
year old Flik Royale (Jules Brown) has been sent by his mother to
spend the summer in Red Hook, New York under the care of his
Grandfather, Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters). The urban
locale is a bit of a culture shock for Flik, accustomed as he is to
life in suburban Atlanta, but even more jarring is his sudden
immersion in religious life. Flik is far more interested in recording
the strange new world around him on his iPad2's camera and hanging out
with Chazz (Toni Lysaith), the asthmatic daughter of a one of his
grandfather's parishioners, than in heeding Enoch's calls to come
to Jesus.
The film hits many
of the expected beats, giving us an awkward semi-romance between Flik and
Chazz, and focusing on Enoch's difficulty in understanding and connecting
with his grandson. Then the movie throws us a curve-ball about
halfway through that changes everything. It's a bold and surprising
turn for the film to take, and certainly gives the viewer something
to think about. At the same time it's so out of left field that it
almost seems like the movie isn't playing fair.
Lee
has returned to his low budget roots with this film, and there are
definitely
some rough edges showing as a result. Clarke Peters gives a riveting
performance
as Da Good Bishop, doing his best to carry the film, and Brown is
engaging if unpolished as Flik. The rest of the supporting cast is
uneven at best, however. Lysaith in particular just isn't up to such a
substantial supporting role, shouting all her lines and showing
little range of expression. Irregardless of the performances, the movie
suffers from a script that needed a little more polishing
to make its sudden shift in tone and focus work. There's also a fair
amount of padding; the 2 hour running time could easily
have lost 20 or 30 minutes with no ill effect. There are enough moments
in the film that work
to make it worth watching, but as a whole it falls short. 2 1/2 out
of 4 stars.
As published on Examiner.com
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