Who Is The Drug Dealer? Your Or Me?: Red Hook Summer (2012)

Here I come again as the seeming sole defender of the films offered by Spike Lee, while he is certainly not void of some less than stellar films, it appears as though his antics detached from filmmaking prove so off-putting that people purposefully avoid his films and even actively advocate against them without even viewing their entirety.  Now to be fair, Lee helmed a campaign against Django Unchained and its latent racism, without of course viewing the film, so in this aspect he cannot be saved.  Yet the people who dismiss Lee assuming that he has completely moved away from the cinematic reflection and activisim latent in his earlier works are the individuals I hope to inspire to pursue a viewing of this film, because while it is certainly not on the level of Do The Right Thing (my favorite film ever), it manages to touch upon some of its themes and tropes and certainly does not shy away from suggesting that film is a follow-up to the world of Lee's seminal classic, going so far as to incorporate a tragically older, yet equally ill-guided Mookie, played off course by the much older Lee.  Another surprise with this vision of Lee's New York is how admittedly it lacks a black influence, the music in the film is not fueled by political activist oriented rap groups like Public Enemy, but the smoother and more melodic offerings of indie folk music and a heavy dose of world music, not to mention a ton of gospel songs.  While one could read this as Lee's consideration of the role of religion in a technologically oriented younger black community that is only a very thin veil in the larger picture.  While I am not sure of Lee's entire intent as it relates to this film, but it is clear that he seems to be drawing from his own life, particularly in that the main character is a burgeoning filmmaker struggling to form his craft, as well as his identity.  Lee takes a considerable amount of risk with this film, some of them are pulled off with great zeal, particularly the choice to go with a low budget cinematic style, while others are a bit iffy, mostly the varied acting of the film's child actors.  Regardless, this film, despite its dismissal proves to be one of Lee's most successful and engaging films since Do The Right Thing and some of its moments of internal struggle within characters have me quite excited about this remake of Oldboy coming out sometime this year.

Red Hook Summer focuses on the travel of Flik (Jules Brown) to Red Hook in New York as he is scheduled to spend the summer with his preacher grandfather Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters), whose admittedly "old school" and demands that Flik constantly consider his own relationship with salvation via Jesus Christ.  Flik, coming from the well-to-do upper middle class world of Atlanta, rejects the simplicity and uneducated world of Enoch, arguing the hypocrisies and contradictions within religion, while also continuing with his attachment to technology.  It is instead through a burgeoning relationship with another girl from Red Hook closer to his age named Chazz (Toni Lysaith) that Flick seems to find an evolving dialogue on both his identity and the issues raised within church contradictions. Of course, like some of Lee's other films, the world of Red Hook is not occupied by a few characters, but instead a constant deluge of varied persons whose affects either progress or digress Flik's evolution, in some cases a character does both.  Perhaps the most relevant secondary character in Flik's journey comes via Deacon Zee, an elderly drunkard whose diatribes on the state of the economy and African-American's own  failure to engage with the monetary woes of a nation, both suggest a call for action politically, while also deconstructing the "woe is me" attitude blatant in Zee's lifestyle.  Yet, it is Zee who helps Flik and Chazz out of trouble when accused of eating food that belongs to the church's Sunday School program.  Of course, the largest matter in the narrative proves to be Flik's problematic relationship with Enoch who becomes more and more demanding that he seek salvation, yet when it is revealed that Enoch suffers from the guilt of a terrible act earlier in his life, it is Flik who provides forgiveness and understanding, while a majority of the community shuns Enoch for his past indiscretions, an issue which he has dealt with emotionally, spiritually and even physically.  In the end, Flik returns home from a summer of unexpected learning and evolution, in which he has met a broken man attempting to turn his life around, as well as a young and burgeoning romantic friendship that helps remind him that his struggle for identity is far from singular.

I cannot deny the role that religion plays into Lee's narrative, it is of course a piece engaged within black cinema, in which spirituality and salvation are prominent tropes.  Yet, Lee is quick to villify certain aspects of religion, particularly its problematic influence via money, as well as the means with which individuals will exploit those with lesser power under the guise of scriptural evidence.  This considered, I would argue that Lee's film is far more concerned with dealing with guilt and its affects on generations.  Enoch clearly suffers for his terrible action, but at no point seems to justify its occurrence, even when he is beaten to a pulp by a group of local thugs and called Satan to his face by a fellow pastor.  Enoch is fully aware of his actions affects on one man's loss of faith and decides not to dwell on his wrongdoings, but instead, attempts to save the faith of the individuals he encounters in the future.  While the given information causes viewers to instantly question his relationship with Flik it is clear that he serves only as a paternal figure, one who wants to provide guidance for a child who has lost his father to the war in Afghanistan, a timely political message that reminds me of how socially conscious Lee can be when focused.  In fact, I would argue that even with his past brought forward that Enoch serves as a better role model for Flick than many of the individuals he encounters throughout the rest of the narrative, whether they be is somewhat distancing mother, the drunken Deacon Zee or the handful of white characters whose presents is either a means of guilt-oriented outreach or profit oriented gentrification.  The world of Red Hook Summer, much like that of Do The Right Thing exists in a simulacrum of urban minority experiences, yet where his earlier film focused on the trouble of a communities inability to "do the right thing," this film, in a surprisingly reflective moment by Lee asks viewers to consider how they navigate their own life, especially if they are struggling with having chosen to do the wrong thing in the past.

Key Scene: While all of Enoch's sermons prove vibrant and profusely cinematic, it is the grainy closing shots of the film that one can assume come from Flik's Ipad filming that really add resonance to the film and make it well worth watching and reflecting upon.

This film, more so than anything else out this year, needs to be reconsidered.  I am appalled by how dismissed this film has become and suggest you drop everything you are doing to watch it on Netflix immediately.

It's Hard To Age Gracefully In The Game, And Still Stay In The Game: Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror (2006)

I could not begin to explain what inspired me to include this bit of movie in my horror movie reviews for the month aside from the inability to ignore a horror movie that not only looked nearly unwatchable, but also had Snoop Dogg, or Snoop Lion as he now refers to himself, as a narrator and character within its plot.  I clicked play on this expecting it to be god-awful only to be surprised by some surprisingly good production value and interesting story concepts.  Of course the acting is not great and many of the messages being propagated throughout the film are all too on the nose, to steal a phrase used buy the guys over at Battleship Pretension, you can "see the strings" all over this film, but considering that the film aims to be a B-movie and nothing more, this blatant use of metaphor and message is at the very least tolerable.  If we take a film like Hood of Horror's at face value it could be much worse, say in the realm of some of the Leprechaun sequels, yet between the anime style connecting scenes, a hip soundtrack and what can only be describe as an earnest attempt to make a set of horror shorts, this is a rousingly good time as far as schlocky contemporary horror is concerned.  Were it not for the absolute thrill that The Host has proven to be, I would gladly place Hood of Horror's at the top of the horror films for 2006, although with the exception of the previously mentioned films it was not a particularly stellar year for horror regardless, or films in general, unless you found yourself living in a foreign country, say Spain or Germany.  I am sure as this months ends and I return to watching non-genre films, Hood of Horrors will become lost in the past, but for the moment I want to relish in its simple enjoyment.  One could say that Hood of Horrors is almost Shakespearian...almost.

As noted Hood of Horrors exists as a set of short films within a larger narrative centering around the experiences of Devon (Snoop Dogg/Lion), also known as HOH, a ex-gangsta turned demon who sold his soul in order to bring back the life of his sister, whom he accidentally murdered.  His life as a demon requires that he go about taking the lesser spirits of the world back to hell, of course allowing them first to die on Earth.  The first story focuses on Polsie (Danielle Alonso) a young girl who is a graffiti artist with a penchant for avenging the murder of her mother at the hands of her insane father.  In order to gain this she obtains dark powers from a warlock named Derelict (Danny Trejo) that allows her to use her spray can to literally x out people from living, often in very grotesque ways.  yet when her love for killing becomes an obsession, Derelict takes away her power and she  is visited by the zombies of those she has killed, eventually leading to her death against a church wall that she had agreed to paint, making her, as Devon suggests an example of life imitating art.  The second narrative, less horror oriented focuses on a racist slumlord named Tex Junior (Anson Mount) who attempts to take a shelter created by his father for black Vietnam veterans and turn it into his own den of iniquity.  After the death of a member of the group the veterans exact revenge on their Tex Junior, in yet another gory moment.  The third story focuses on rapper Sod (Pooch Hall) making a deal with God to become a famous rapper, which leads to him meeting Quon (Aries Spears) and becoming famous instantaneously.  However, power and fame goes to Sod's head causing him to become prideful and envious to the point of killing Quon and act that leads to him being confronted by one of God's servants who uses a television to help him realize the err of his ways, as well as calling upon an apparition of the dead Quon  to cause Sod to kill his guard/henchman Jersey, played by over the hill professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page.  Eventually, in paranoia Sod takes on an entire police squad only to die in a hail of bullets, alone and abandoned by God.

Revenge, pride and racism all inhabit the rhetoric of the stories told within Hood of Horrors, sure they are a bit on the nose and laughable in their construction, but I find it to be reflective of many of urban black films and their attempts to rationalize urban black experiences.  Whether it be in the serious and cinematic manner of Menace II Society, or in the satirical and exploitative ways of something like Black Dynamite heavy handed metaphor seems to be the route used to approach such narratives.  Hood of Horrors, while certainly entrenched in notions of the gang lifestyle and rags to riches rap rhetoric, seriously condemns the acts that have become all to common in urban neighborhoods, such as those of Southern Los Angeles, the home of none other thanSnoop Dogg/Lion himself.  The problem with these films is that they become a bit essentialist in how they portray black lifestyle in this particular section of the United States as being incredibly nihilistic and promote escapism over activism and change.  Compare it to the self-reflective manner of something like Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, or Julie Dash's experimental portrayal of an African-American community in Daughters of the Dust and you have a film that is less than stellar in its social critique of hood life and its problems.  Of course, I would never imagine that this film set out to be the harbinger of commentary and demand for change in urban black communities, yet it attempts to say some considerably pertinent things and, as such, its methods must be critiqued.

Key Scene:  The anime-style scenes are gory in a simulation manner that makes them somewhat fun to watch without being absurd or sickening.

I am in no way leaping at the opportunity to recommend this movie as a must watch film, but should you find yourself with a hour and some change of free time then by all means check out Hood of Horrors, if only for Jason Alexander's terrible British accent.