BlacKKKlansman

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  • BlacKKKlansman

    summer of 1989 i sat in a theater in Washington DC to watch Spike Lee's second joint, Do The Right Thing, which hit with the cultural force of a bomb following it's premiere in Cannes a few months earlier. not only did it live up to the hype as an uncompromising statement from Lee on race in America at that particular moment, it was also a masterful studio debut for any filmmaker of Lee's age. personally, for a white kid from a small rural town, it challenged my own preconceptions about relations between blacks and whites and opened my eyes to a community that was rarely if ever represented (at that point) in popular media.

    nearly 30 years later, Spike's latest joint is just as socially urgent even if the storytelling itself is not quite as audacious as DTRT. the premise is a fairly conventional buddy cop story (based on true events) with the twist that the main cop here is a young black rookie attempting to infiltrate the KKK in Colorado Springs. for obvious reasons, he must enlist a white partner on the force to stand in for him when the infiltration moves off the phone. all of that is pretty standard stuff and Lee has a lot of fun with the various situations.

    what elevates BlacKKKLansman to something deeper is the way Lee uses that trope-y premise to infuse the relationships with the historical experience of black Americans with white Americans, and the police in particular. the harassment and brutality aimed at radical groups in 1971, like the Black Panthers, resonates onscreen with all the weight of Black Lives Matter today and the most recently publicized shootings. sometimes Lee goes for winks and jokes that reference current events too on the nose but he's never factually wrong about the parallels either. down to the striking imagery and terrific soundtrack/score, it all clicks for a master at work.

  • #2
    Re: BlacKKKLansman

    I'm looking forward to this but I can't see it until the 20th and the thread will inevitably be closed by that point. Your review has me excited though.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: BlacKKKLansman

      Caught this yesterday and was speechless walking out of the theater. Emotionally powerful and incredibly relevant to today. Seeing it on the one year anniversary of Charlottesville certainly wasn't lost on me. What struck me the most, similar to what JoeBanks said, was how Lee took a fairly stock buddy cop set up and infused it with a meaning and a visual beauty not often seen in that genre. There are sequences in the movie that are really just pure poetry. Stunning.

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      • #4
        Re: BlacKKKLansman

        A less . . . reverent review:

        http://takimag.com/article/spike-lee...#axzz5OFpAgEKt

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        • #5
          Re: BlacKKKLansman

          Originally posted by karsten View Post
          And if there's any place I turn to for movie reviews, it's long-established and well-known publications such as "Takimag," complete with contributions from well-respected thought leaders such as Ann Coulter.
          "I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.-- Peter De Vries

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          • #6
            Re: BlacKKKLansman

            The guys who wrote the spec are really nice, so it's good to see this do well.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: BlacKKKLansman

              Originally posted by UpandComing View Post
              And if there's any place I turn to for movie reviews, it's long-established and well-known publications such as "Takimag," complete with contributions from well-respected thought leaders such as Ann Coulter.
              Well, evidently if one wishes to come across a review that departs from lock-step adulation . . .
              Spike Lee's new movie BlacKkKlansman has received 100 percent thumbs up from 46 professional film critics aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes.
              . . . then, yes, it may well be a place to turn to.

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              • #8
                Re: BlacKKKLansman

                Originally posted by karsten View Post
                Well, evidently if one wishes to come across a review that departs from lock-step adulation . . .

                . . . then, yes, it may well be a place to turn to.
                Two things:

                1) This section of the DDP forum is typically where DDP members come to provide their own reviews of movies. Anyone can post links to reviews from other websites, but it doesn't mean much here if you haven't actually seen the movie yourself.

                2) I don't have a problem with people sharing alternative viewpoints. However:

                a) I try to avoid movie reviews from websites that are primarily focused on politics. This is because the reviews tend to have a strong political bent as well. So, for example, I wouldn't go to the Huffington Post for a movie review. Taki Magazine was founded expressly with the intent to "shake up the stodgy world of so-called "conservative- opinion" (https://pagesix.com/2007/02/06/back-for-more/). It has an explicitly political purpose.

                b) I try to avoid movie reviews from people like this Steve Sailer guy. People who regularly contribute to VDARE.com, a website which "regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites", according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-h...s/group/vdare).
                You know, guys who have a history of viewpoints like this: "Sailer cites studies that say, on average, blacks and Mexicans in America have lower IQs than whites" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Sailer).

                But, that's just me.
                "I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.-- Peter De Vries

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: BlacKKKLansman

                  Originally posted by karsten View Post
                  Well, evidently if one wishes to come across a review that departs from lock-step adulation . . .

                  Spike Lee’s new movie BlacKkKlansman has received 100 percent thumbs up from 46 professional film critics aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes.
                  . . . then, yes, it may well be a place to turn to.
                  Your use of the adjective 'lockstep' is a fallacious ad hominem argument against the top approved critics on Rotten Tomatoes. It therefore shows your lack of reasoning, and prejudice and/or bigotry.
                  Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
                  "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: BlacKKKLansman

                    Originally posted by Crayon View Post
                    Your use of the adjective 'lockstep' is a fallacious ad hominem argument against the top approved critics on Rotten Tomatoes. It therefore shows your lack of reasoning, and prejudice and/or bigotry.
                    LOL. Sure. What am I prejudiced against? Uniformity?

                    All I can say is, if {inhales} "the top approved critics" {exhales} in any field were comparably unanimous in their adulation over something, then I would say that those approved critics either suffered from a glaring lack of viewpoint diversity in their circle, or were motivated at least in part by other concerns besides aesthetic ones (e.g., the fear of being accused of "prejudice and/or bigotry"), or both.

                    But that's just me.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: BlacKKKLansman

                      Originally posted by Crayon View Post
                      Your use of the adjective 'lockstep' is a fallacious ad hominem argument against the top approved critics on Rotten Tomatoes. It therefore shows your lack of reasoning, and prejudice and/or bigotry.
                      But... but... but, didn't we recently establish in the "Oceans" thread that two-thirds of the Rotten Tomatoes "top approved critics" suffered from "a lack of reasoning, and prejudice and/or bigotry"?

                      I seem to remember the conclusion (of some) was that since two-thirds of these top approved critics were men, they couldn't possibly write a worthwhile or unbiased review about a movie starring women. And that they were "in fact" bigots.

                      I'm glad they redeemed themselves.
                      "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

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                      • #12
                        Re: BlacKKKLansman

                        Originally posted by karsten View Post
                        LOL. Sure. What am I prejudiced against? Uniformity?

                        All I can say is, if {inhales} "the top approved critics" {exhales} in any field were comparably unanimous in their adulation over something, then I would say that those approved critics either suffered from a glaring lack of viewpoint diversity in their circle, or were motivated at least in part by other concerns besides aesthetic ones (e.g., the fear of being accused of "prejudice and/or bigotry"), or both.

                        But that's just me.
                        Have you seen the movie being discussed? Just curious.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: BlacKKKlansman

                          Mods? Is it okay to be pushing reviews from white nationalists? I can't swear but THAT is okay?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: BlacKKKlansman

                            Originally posted by TheConnorNoden View Post
                            Mods? Is it okay to be pushing reviews from white nationalists? I can't swear but THAT is okay?
                            The reviewer is an Asian supremacist, not a white nationalist.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: BlacKKKlansman

                              Originally posted by TheConnorNoden View Post
                              Mods? Is it okay to be pushing reviews from white nationalists? I can't swear but THAT is okay?
                              The sad part is there are more than a few people on here who not only have no problem with reading work from someone like him, but also don't think twice about sharing/promoting it. This is the America we live in now.
                              "I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.-- Peter De Vries

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