SUMMER OF SAM (1999)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2004
There are many ways to reconstruct history on film. Some filmmakers
try to give detailed and accurate depictions of the past events. Some
filmmakers use history only as background for fictional stories. Some
filmmakers try to make compromise between those two approaches.
Spike Lee tried to make one such compromise in his 1999 drama
SUMMER OF SAM.
The film starts with the prologue by Jimmy Breslin, "New York Daily
News" columnist who was personally involved in one of the darkest
chapters of recent New York history. Breslin tells that New York in
the Summer of 1977 used to be much uglier place to live than in late
1990s - high unemployment and raging inflation were accompanied
by record high temperatures, power blackouts and rising crime rate.
Modest, but very spectacular, contribution to the latter was provided
by David Berkowitz (played by Michael Badalucci), serial killer who
wandered through streets armed with .44 Magnum and killed few
people before entering history books as "Son of Sam". While his
murderous campaign goes on, other citizens of New York are
preoccupied with other concerns. One of them is Vinnie (played by
John Leguizamo), Italian-American hairdresser from Bronx. He has it
all - money, expensive car and reputation of a disco king. Vinnie's
beautiful and loving wife Dionne (played by Mira Sorvino) doesn't
show much enthusiasm for some unorthodox sexual practices so
Vinnie has to seek those pleasures with other women. When he
accidentally stumbles into "Son of Sam's" crime scene he begins to
contemplate abandoning his philandering ways. In the meantime,
Vinnie's best friend Richie (played by Adrien Brody) shocks
neighbourhood by adopting punk hairstyle and fake British accent;
his plan to buy luxurious electric guitar and start his own punk band
is financed through dancing in gay bar, male prostitution and
occasional shooting of porn movies with his girlfriend Ruby (played
by Jennifer Esposito). While all this goes on, NYPD is so desperate in
its desire to catch the killer that it recruits Luigi (played by Ben
Gazzara), local mafia boss. Luigi's thugs, organised into vigilante
groups, begin to view any odd character as potential killer and Richie
becomes most likely suspect.
The film's script, written by Victor Colicchio, Michael Imperioli and
Spike Lee, had potential to explore many interesting topics and
stories. It could have dealt with the David Berkowitz's killings, either
by trying to show psychopathology behind it or by showing the way
media created public hysteria because of them. It could have shown
the way how bigotry and paranoia could lead to violence. It could
have also been a nice opportunity to portray culture and social
attitudes of 1970s urban America - so different from modern times.
SUMMER OF SAM tries all that, but fails. Having all those stories in
a single feature film was the task beyond creative capabilities of even
such talented filmmaker like Spike Lee. David Berkowitz, instead of
being mysterious bogeyman affecting protagonists' lives, is shown as
pathetic man obsessed with talking dogs. Protagonists, on the other
hand, are less characters and more collection of every 1970s nostalgia
cliche available - Vinnie, as philandering disco king interested in
group sex, is given its antipode in Richie who manages to be punk
rocker, male prostitute and porn actor at the same time. All that is
accompanied with plenty of baseball and other historical references
hardly comprehensible to anyone who haven't lived or remembered
1970s New York.
On the other hand, Spike Lee manages to compensate lack of proper
content with superb form. Despite disappointing plot and characters,
SUMMER OF SAM functions as a coherent whole, often making
audience believe that they watch an epic film of great importance.
Lee directs many scenes with great skill, especially in the scenes that
show his ability to recreate 1970s. The acting is good and many
talented performers like Leguizamo, Sorvino and Gazzara manage to
breathe some life into their one-dimensional roles. Adrien Brody is
especially effective, because he makes audience sympathise with the
character who could otherwise end up like pathetic caricature.
Although a failure, SUMMER OF SAM is not only watchable but at
times very entertaining reconstruction of history.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
Review written on August 11th 2004
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Film Critics Society
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