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Summer
Of Sam
review by Joe Mauceri
From the director who said something close to "white directors should not make films about black people," SUMMER OF SAM looks back at New York City during the summer of 1977. The film examines that period in the City's history as seen through the eyes of a group of street hustlers from Brooklyn. It was the summer when the .44 Killer held the city hostage, and the summer of the black out. Lee's film is a two and a half hour mess. They could have easily cut it down to two hours. Overall, the film is poorly executed and technically flawed. The film begins with a distracting heavy grain that disappears a third of the way through. Lee places a three minute music video right in the middle of the film, distorting the flow. The scenes in Berkowitz's apartment are shot like his Nike commercials. If that isn't bad enough, during one of Berkowitz's demented episodes he brings in a black talking dog. At best, the effect was laughable. Lee's "love" scenes are shot with the skill and grace of a porno director. Of course the director does his cameo, which is totally out of place and further distorts the flow and continuity of the film. Lee often aspires to copy Scorsese's style, failing miserably. The climax is an inept colleague that attempts to mimic the stylized climax of Coppola's "Godfather 2" and Scorsese's "Mean Streets." SUMMER OF SAM features too many characters and not enough good performances to shoulder the burned of this screenplay. The stereotypical are so over the top that they become quickly become annoying. Leguizamo's is better then his performance in "The Pest." Mira Sorvino has one shining moment, when here character finally breaks with her womanizing husband. They waste delightful small performances on transitional characters. As for the Berkowitz controversy, the film is more of a time-capsule. It would have served the story to have established Berkowitz as a faceless shadow. Lee could have used a couple of the scenes inside the killer's apartment for atmosphere, especially the ones where we do not see his face but simply here his demented ranting. The director's take on Berkowitz being brought to police headquarters bears more of a 90's sensibility. SUMMER OF SAM is an interesting screenplay that falls apart in the execution. All the limited components suffer from over direction and too many different production designs. One might say that SUMMER OF SAM is an overly made up and tacky drag rehashing of themes presented in "Do the Right Thing." OFFICIAL WEB SITE: |
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