Summer of Sam (1999)

Summer of Sam (1999) is a crime drama by African American director Spike Lee. I liked The 25th Hour and still haven’t seen half of his films. But I’m still not totally convinced by this director. There must be 8000 stories going on in New York and this film shows the story of one of them. But honestly… nothing interesting for me! Gangsters, kingpins, drug trafficking, violence, poverty… In short! Ideal for Ben Gazzara who seems to love playing in this kind of movie. Good…. He can rest now: it’s been 11 years since he left us. R.I.P.

I saw this film about 22 years ago, it didn’t leave me with many memories… and seeing it again, I can easily understand why. It’s a film that’s good to throw away. It hurts your heart because you can see that a lot of effort went into it and it’s over two hours long. But if it’s just to see macho men cheating, beating, being threatened. Moreover, the multitude of sexual scenes makes the film totally insipid, embarrassing and boring. That’s saying something!

John Leguizamo: always in his big, fat, macho, totally unbearable roles! He does it well and it’s scary. I’m starting to doubt that he’s actually playing a role… Adrien Brody: absolutely perfect in the role of the very philosophical and open-minded punk. One of his best roles, but quite tragic in the end. Mira Sorvino: nothing to reproach her for. Convincing as the wife who knows she’s being cheated on, but still believes and wants to save her marriage until the cup is full. Jennifer Esposito: really great as the girl who has dated everyone… and doesn’t realise until it’s too late that the punk is the man in her life.

Spike Lee plays one of the reporters. He looks very comfortable in front of the camera! A film that is not necessary. I think you can easily avoid it or see it if you really feel that life is already too easy and you really need to depress a few days.