by Cookie N Screen
Experiment 626 (which may, or may not be Stitch's real name) is an event embarked upon by the I'm With Geek Film Team. Film knowledge was unearthed, truths were found and a DVD exchange took place. These are the true life stories from that experiment...
To Cookie from Liam
I choose Do The Right Thing because, from your list, I can tell you like science fiction and surrealist cinema and Do The Right Thing is distinctly the opposite. It's a realist film that explores race and multi-cultural living way before its time. Other than that, though, it's extremely funny and incredibly accessible. Do The Right Thing is a powerful, uplifting and visually stunning masterpiece. And it's the best Spike Lee has to offer. I hope you enjoy it.
Experiment 626 (which may, or may not be Stitch's real name) is an event embarked upon by the I'm With Geek Film Team. Film knowledge was unearthed, truths were found and a DVD exchange took place. These are the true life stories from that experiment...
To Cookie from Liam
I choose Do The Right Thing because, from your list, I can tell you like science fiction and surrealist cinema and Do The Right Thing is distinctly the opposite. It's a realist film that explores race and multi-cultural living way before its time. Other than that, though, it's extremely funny and incredibly accessible. Do The Right Thing is a powerful, uplifting and visually stunning masterpiece. And it's the best Spike Lee has to offer. I hope you enjoy it.
When Liam bestowed the, honestly, fantastic Do The Right Thing, I was ecstatic. That isn’t a lie. It was a film that had been sitting in my collection for a while. It’s not that I had been putting it off, I really wanted to look at a film that is often cited as Spike Lee’s best work. Liam has given me the push and basically pointed me to the film and I can honestly say that I was thankful. Though it may be a departure from my horror, trash and cult movies that I hold so dear to my heart, it certainly opened my eyes to how impeccable Lee can be as a filmmaker and how a world I am ill-informed about can play out.
Do The Right Thing is a 1989 film centred in a neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York. Mookie is a young black man living with his sister and working at a pizzeria named Sal’s. The owner, Sal, has two sons, but Pino is a bitter and angry racist. While Sal’s is the hub of activity and the turning point for many characters, the film takes us through the narratives of others. They include Tina, Mookie’s girlfriend who spends all her time in an apartment; Da Mayor, an alcoholic drunk who is trying the woo affections from Mother Sister; a mentally ill man, Smiley; Buggin’ Out; and Radio Raheem. The different cultures in New York collide during one hot, sunny day.
Do The Right Thing is a 1989 film centred in a neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York. Mookie is a young black man living with his sister and working at a pizzeria named Sal’s. The owner, Sal, has two sons, but Pino is a bitter and angry racist. While Sal’s is the hub of activity and the turning point for many characters, the film takes us through the narratives of others. They include Tina, Mookie’s girlfriend who spends all her time in an apartment; Da Mayor, an alcoholic drunk who is trying the woo affections from Mother Sister; a mentally ill man, Smiley; Buggin’ Out; and Radio Raheem. The different cultures in New York collide during one hot, sunny day.
Spike Lee’s work is, above all things, a realistic and provoking drama about racial tension in urban cities. And it’s not just between black and white, but between all cultures clashing over the small neighbourhood. What Spike does with this segregation and anger, boiling over with the added heat, is not make it preaching. It is strikingly powerful because it feels human, the arguments and the slurs are thrown naturally around because that is exactly what life on this neighbourhood was in 1989. Though many will shift uncomfortably at the finale, likening to the state of affairs in London, it actually comes about naturally with that anger. The characters pop out of the screen because you can relate to them, feel their essence and the wrought tensions that have bubbled underneath everything.
Add this to Spike’s innovative directing. Seriously, he does amazing things by drenching the city in a summer’s haze and sharing the gritty aspects while still exploring inventive angles and setting up scenes, and saturates his world with colour. Popping in monologues, snap shots and beautiful set ups (the ice scene is evoking). Do The Right Thing is a stunning visual feast. It also is very entertaining too.
Do The Right Thing is a powerful statement as it is. Which is the right thing? What happens when anger takes control? Though death and rage take centre stage in the final act, like an updated Shakespeare play where hope is lost in anarchy, you can’t help but resonate with Mookie and his decisions. But a final message you must take from Do The Right Thing is this: being racist is wrong, as is being equally colour-blind. Lee opens you up to a different world and gives stories behind characters. What you should take away is cultures as different as the colour of your skin can work together, live together, love together. A lot of people can learn from Do The Right Thing... a lot of people. Even I had come out of it with fresh knowledge. But discrimination and blame of race is wrong.
Add this to Spike’s innovative directing. Seriously, he does amazing things by drenching the city in a summer’s haze and sharing the gritty aspects while still exploring inventive angles and setting up scenes, and saturates his world with colour. Popping in monologues, snap shots and beautiful set ups (the ice scene is evoking). Do The Right Thing is a stunning visual feast. It also is very entertaining too.
Do The Right Thing is a powerful statement as it is. Which is the right thing? What happens when anger takes control? Though death and rage take centre stage in the final act, like an updated Shakespeare play where hope is lost in anarchy, you can’t help but resonate with Mookie and his decisions. But a final message you must take from Do The Right Thing is this: being racist is wrong, as is being equally colour-blind. Lee opens you up to a different world and gives stories behind characters. What you should take away is cultures as different as the colour of your skin can work together, live together, love together. A lot of people can learn from Do The Right Thing... a lot of people. Even I had come out of it with fresh knowledge. But discrimination and blame of race is wrong.
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