1989

Do the Right Thing.
Premiered June 30th, 1989.
Directed by Spike Lee.
Starring Spike Lee, Rosie Perez, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, John Savage.
Music by Bill Lee.


     I'm going to preface this one with this thought. I'm a middle class Canadian white girl. The most discrimination I experience stems form my being a woman, but racially, I wouldn't know my ass from a whole in the ground on the experience within that conflict. While I think it's an important discussion to have with everyone in order to break those barriers put up by racial prejudice, it doesn't really matter what I think. I don't believe it's my place to comment. I would never presume to have any insight on this issue. I'll leave it up to those who experience racism to tell their own story and decide what's best for themselves. In here, I will only discuss film techniques on an artistic level. So this is me, removing my foot promptly from my mouth and placing it firmly on the ground, where it will stay.

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     It seems like a simple statement. To do the right thing is what we've always been taught. On many levels, it's just common sense. But when you introduce layer upon layer of complexity to what truly is the right thing, the decision making process becomes a bit muddy. This film seeks to examine the conflicts born of race in poorer neighborhoods in New York City in the late 80's. It opens on the hottest day of the summer. The main character, Mookie (Lee), delivers pizza for Sal's Pizzeria, the American Italian owned restaurant in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. He lives with his sister Jade (Lee's actual sister) and has a son with his girlfriend Tina (Perez). Sal works with his two sons, Pino (Turturro) and Vito (Edson), and Mookie. While Vito has no problem with Mookie, Pino treats him with contempt and malice, resenting his presence and rejecting his attempts to make peace. With that story line carrying the film as the central theme, there are a number of secondary stories that contribute to it's greater substance. Da Mayor (Davis) is the community drunk who is at constant odds with Mother Sister (Dee), trying to win her affections with an icy and dismissive response. Radio Raheem (Nunn) walks the streets with his ghetto blaster in tow, pumping out hip hop classics, and sporting fresh and brand new "LOVE" and "HATE" gold knuckle rings. Smiley is a developmentally disabled man who travels the neighborhood selling copies of a picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. that he colors himself. With that, there are also several groups of people that come in to contribute to this crazily dense character study. Additionally, young Samuel Jackson, then Sam, plays Mister Senor Daddy Love, the local radio DJ who runs a common thread through all the layers. I'm serious, the top billed cast is longer than the number of people I've ever met.

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     Visually, this film stunning. The colors are crazy bright and almost overwhelmingly vivid. here it is). While it comes out of nowhere, it's also the best opening credits I've ever seen. The song that plays, I'm pretty sure is what plays on Raheem's boombox throughout, and Rosie dances like she's angry but also loving it. It's great. Lee also manages to get's an amazing performance out of each and ever member of the cast. A substantial part of the film is dialogue, and some of it is unlike any I've ever heard. Smiley has a heavy stutter and pushes his words out loudly and seemingly with great difficulty, but this makes for a really interesting speech pattern, only adding to the intrigue of the film's atmosphere. Similarly, Jackson's Radio DJ has a super idiosyncratic way of speaking, as disc jockeys often do, and it's really cool. Here's just a sampling.
Everyone is dressed to the nines, and for the most part, the streets are spotless. I would say this is a fairly idealized version of life in this neighborhood and others like it. That being said, this works really well and to the point where it's almost not even noticeable, because that's not what this film is about. Race relations can be examined in any location, realistic or not. Part of the point is that they're troublingly prevalent everywhere. Lee's directorial style incorporates a seemingly disjointed editing scheme that cuts between all the various layers of the story without any warning. The film even opens a little confusingly, with Rosie Perez dancing for about 4 minutes (

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     The music is another shining aspect to this films success. The original score is this fantastic cross between neo-jazz and semi-jazz with a tribal undertone. Many scenes begin with the soaring opening note of an alto sax solo. It's all composition by Bill Lee, Spike's father. Here's an example.In addition, the music that isn't originally composed features tracks by Public Enemy, Perri, and Ruben Blades. This film was chock-full, beginning to end, with unbelievable talent that just doesn't get an opportunity to surface in mainstream sections of the industry. This film is not just an exceptional piece of art, but it's an impressive work of collaboration that tackles difficult and complex issues in a mature, realistic and all the same entertaining way.


9/10. Love it. Totally love it.


Films worthy of honorable mention this year are Back to the Future II (one of the most tolerable sequels I've ever seen), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (giant ants are truly the most terrifying), The Little Mermaid (the beginning of a golden era, when Disney was able to deliver to our children vile and dangerous messages in neat little beautifully written, animated and produced packages). All Dogs go to Heaven (Charlie Sheen is arguably a better actor as a dog than he is as a man), The Big Picture (a great movie made by a film student fresh out of school about what it's like to make a movie fresh out of film school), Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (this film is so important, I can't stress that enough. Sooooo important), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover (this will be my next review, so stay tuned), Crimes and Misdemeanors (some would say the best Woody Allen film, and while I wouldn't be one of them, it is definitely better than most), Drugstore Cowboy (I haven't actually seen it, but I hear really good things, and Matt Dillon is a hunk and a half), Field of Dreams (people do not give this thing enough credit. Next time you watch it, try to change your mindset. Give it chance to be good and then see what you think. It might surprise you. Also, James Earl Jones saying baseball is enough to make it perfect), Kiki's Delivery Service (probably my least favorite Hayao Miyazaky film, but even a not very good one of his films is pretty dang good), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ( The merriest goddamn Christmas since Bing Crosby danced with Danny fuckin' Kay!), Parenthood (I hope when I have children I turn into Mary Steenburgen), Sex, Lies, and Videotape (James Spader, everybody), Society (so the whole film you'll be like what? and then at the end you'll be like holy shit, what?) Steel Magnolias (it's really sweet and charming and then all of sudden someone who you are not expecting to die dies, and you will cry...so much), Sweetie (Jane Campion is my idol), Uncle Buck (another adoreable Hughesian classic), and When Harry Met Sally...(I don't actually like this film, but I love the cast and Harry Connick Jr. did the soundtrack, so that's awesome).


Peace,
Gang.