Spike Lee is becoming more and more like New Wave director Godard...

Vivian 2021-12-28 08:02:27

This year's Cannes Film Festival can be described as a bumpy fate. The pandemic has caused it to be cancelled, which disappointed fans all over the world. And perhaps even more disappointed is the American director Spike Lee , because as early as this year, Cannes officials had announced that he would be the chairman of the jury of this competition. This is the first chairman of the black jury in the history of Cannes. Needless to say, its importance is needless to say. In addition, he won the jury award in one fell swoop in "Black Party Members" two years ago. It is highly anticipated that his vision and taste will be selected. A horrifying work of Palme d'Or. As a result, Cannes did not do this this year. As for whether he will continue to be invited to serve as the chairman of the judges next year, it is still unknown. However, under the difficult environment of the epidemic, he still has a new release this year, which is the "Five of the Blood" invested and produced by Netflix .

His recent works have followed similar creative ideas, using black characters and elements to rewrite traditional genre films , or using a playful tone to pay tribute to the classics of film history , and at the same time forcibly entraining private goods, using characters to tell his topic about black people. Attention and criticism of social issues. This "Blood Five" is a more common treasure hunt comedy, about four African-American veterans returning to Vietnam, looking for the remains of the captain who died that year, and an ulterior treasure. The film seems to reflect on the meaning of the Vietnam War from the perspective of black people. Traditional themes of the Vietnam War are all narrated from the perspective of white people. Blacks are rarely seen, such as the classic "Apocalypse Now".

However, this comedy, action-adventure film is far from most anti-war films. The director is too capricious to put too many genre elements in this loose story : the first 90 minutes is an interesting treasure hunt plot, in which Mixed with memories of veterans, Vietnamese lovers and illegitimate daughters, French villains, etc., in the last hour suddenly turned to the jungle action gunfight scene of black exploitation without warning , with a few kidnapped white volunteers. , And some stereotyped Vietnamese killers.

Spike Lee can confidently throw out different irony points in almost every scene, but lacks organization in plot organization. The rambling narrative and the careless secondary role, the too dense reversal, and the difficult to reconcile tone make the audience unable to grasp the key point for a time, and the film naturally cannot be hit like the "Black Party".

Spike Lee has become more and more like New Wave director Godard , and his methods of expressing arguments with collage images have become more and more direct and rude. If the last shocking documentary of "Black Party Member" is thought-provoking and depth-enhancing, then this "video essay" is too casual and blunt. Suddenly cut into the scenes of the Trump campaign rally, and unprovoked video materials of "Black people's fate is also fate" appeared. These fully demonstrated the director's strong concern for social reality and the personal views he could not restrain to express; but these rules are messy. The method caused this pot of hot porridge with too much ingredients to roll up and down, constantly raising fleeting topical bubbles.

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Extended Reading
  • Matilde 2022-03-25 09:01:14

    Old Li Tou is really a very academic director, a man who spreads the complexity and time-space context of chaotic issues to the world, but always has idealism (the old generation of five people rest in power, but the film presents them How to multiply the ending, the lovely old left of young people of different races carrying the trauma and baggage and moving on). His tussle with the history of Hollywood film, and the history of the United States recorded by images and images will never end, but at the same time he loves and understands his medium so deeply, even if many elements continue to be present in his work ("joint") Repeats (the main characters' bar dance sequence, archive footage, dolly zoom at the end...), but the spirit probably always strikes me. The protagonist Paul is a black Sichuan fan, but his image is so plump, so powerful, so scarred and hateful, and it is admirable to be able to write and perform such a role. music! I laughed when "Ride of the Valkyries" sounded, and "Apocalypse Now" was spoken to.

  • Yasmeen 2021-12-28 08:02:27

    Spike Lee reflected on the fact that most blacks are low in quality and are easily incited. He also agrees that a small number of leftist black intellectuals exist as souls and leaders, preaching rationality and peace. When the actor accidentally shot the squad leader, and then took on the montage of Martin Luther King and other blacks being shot and killed, all of the motives of the actor in the whole film can be realized at once, all of which are closely related to the ideology of the cold war of the year. Related, it is re-examining the Vietnam War from a black perspective. In addition, the use of the frame can also be seen in Li Dao's ambition to span time and space. It’s just that this movie is really terrible in terms of plot, except for the use of the French actor Renault, what is the difference between this movie and the bad domestic film "Rogue League" in terms of plot? Li's ability to play plays has always been his weakness, and the script lowers his expression, making it look like an entertainment film. And is it too speculative to use material from the 6.70s as an argument against current racial discrimination?

Da 5 Bloods quotes

  • David: Damn! What is that sound?

    Paul: Uh, cicadas.

    David: Cicadas?

    Paul: Yeah.

    David: They don't sound like that back home.

    Paul: We ain't home, son. We ain't home.

  • Melvin: I should shoot your crazy ass dead.

    Paul: Do it. Ain't nothing to it but to do it, Blood.

    Melvin: Don't tempt me, motherfucker.