OFF THE RED HOOK

40 Acres & a Mule - Release summer 2012

Film is incredibly democratic and accessible, it’s probably the best option if you actually want to change the world, not just re-decorate it.

- Banksy

There probably isn’t a more diverse city in the Western Hemisphere than the 5 boroughs that make up New York City.  I mean how many places do you know that have people who pay $700 a month to park a boat; yet live walking distances from people who came over on a boat to get paid $700 a month? Despite the obvious diversity there is no other city that is painted with a more monolithic stereotype/label than the people that call NYC home.  And, there is no other filmmaker casted with those colossal lenses than Shelton Jackson Lee; or as his courtside fans and foes adorn him, Spike.

I really like Spike Lee and many friends (and foes) attribute my appeal as a “typical” New Yorker – thus making it that much tougher to trade wits with unarmed people.  The fact of the matter is there are few filmmakers that have earned a noteworthy living tackling polarizing topics that divide one’s moral fabric or test one’s inner soul.  Spike Lee simply doesn’t get enough credit for that.  What's worse is he probably won’t until his head stone is carved. How fittingly sad! You could probably guide a child through their formative years with an honest discussion about these titles alone: “Jungle Fever”, “Do the Right Thing”, “She’s Gotta Have It”, “Bamboozled” “How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company” and “Malcolm X” and you wouldn’t even be halfway through Lee’s directorial credits.  That not-so-fictional discussion with a child is the not-so-coincidental centerpiece of Lee’s latest morality check, “Red Hook Summer”.  

The harmless credits unfold when a young boy, Flik Royale (Jules Brown) from suburban Atlanta migrates to Brooklyn for the summer. This seasonal trend is atypical of the 40 Acres and a Mule mantra (especially) when you consider that the only people that ever owned 40 Acres in New York were slain so “we” can go to Braves games and celebrate Columbus and Thanksgiving holidays with limited interruptions.  The plot erupts when Flik’s grandfather Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clark Peters) -- a spiritual leader of a small corner church -- named A Little Piece of Heaven -- has a huge part of his past exposed. Literally!

The plot rolls uphill for a while and in typical Spike Lee fashion it’s extremely wordy and has a really weak and awkward ending.  However, there are moments in heat of "Red Hook Summer" when you could hear a pin drop on the carpeted theatre floor, as patrons search their soul looking for clues of where their morality rests…, or unrests as it were.  Deacon Zee’s (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) insightful wisdom and self-serving proclamations of Wall Street shares of MAC (Apple), along with the street justice from a notorious corner drug dealer probably doesn’t do anything for the moral arch Dr. King preached of; but it sure makes for one interesting debriefing once the credits starts to roll. 

The movie which is playing in limited theatres (imagine that?) probably won’t win an Oscar or a screen actor’s nominee…, Hell, I would be surprised if it gets a nod a the Trumpet Awards -- and that bar is so low I think I was nominated for standing next to an exit once. 

Of course if you go to the movies to jot down dating tips from Steve Harvey or to see Madea break-dance in a dress, please save your money, as “Red Hook Summer” won’t enhance any of those satirical stereotypes although many of the targeted audience is exactly the same and can be easily found in this hidden gem.   

Man, I can remember when you could count the number of trees that lined the streets in Red Hook on one hand.  And, now with gentrification, mobilization, and globalization the only thing you can still count on one hand is the number of weeks "Red Hook Summer" will be playing in a theatre near you.

Furthermore, if you are looking to place blame for that fact or the monolithic approach to the culture’s music, quizzical fame, education, or rising apathy,

I think it’s the community at large that is on the hook!  Here’s hoping that if that long-awaited Mule for those 40 Acres ever arrived it isn’t sitting outside of a Spike Lee Joint.


  
1 love,
Ray Lewis