Official Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFc6I0rgmgY

and i wasnt looking at the tv and i deadass thought it was denzel

______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-spike-lees-blackkklansman-draws-10-minute-standing-ovation-1111550



The evening was poised to be dramatic if not redemptive given that Lee was famously overlooked for the Palme d'Or in 1989 for Do the Right Thing. The prize was awarded that year to Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape. Over the ensuing years, Lee has made no secret of his disappointment with that year's jury president, Wim Wenders, whose film Pope Francis: A Man of His Word made a rousing debut at Cannes on Sunday night. Both BlacKkKlansman and Pope Francis will be released by Focus Features, the former on Aug. 10, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the deadly Charlottesville riots.

The audience broke out in applause a half-dozen times during the screening, followed by four minutes of applause during the credits and a six-minute standing ovation. Afterward, director Christopher Nolan, who was at the premiere, was spotted giving Lee a hug.

BlacKkKlansman stars John David Washington, Adam Driver and Topher Grace were on hand for the premiere, which had not been seen in its entirety by anyone other than Lee before Cannes. The film's last sequence was one of the most emotional finales to hit Cannes in recent memory, splicing in real footage from the events in Charlottesville. (Watch the trailer, which Focus Features unveiled Monday, here.)


READ MORE
Spike Lee Unleashes 'BlacKkKlansman': Race, Trump and Being "Robbed" of Cannes' Palme d'Or
Right before the film premiered, Lee didn't give an opening statement but called out to those in the balcony: "Brooklyn in the house!" He arrived at the Palais wearing two knuckle rings, one of which read "love" and the other "hate," along with a pair of Nike shoes — one white, one back — that featured the name of the film on the side of each.

BlacKkKlansman, which centers on a black police officer (Washington) who infiltrated the KKK in the 1970s, marks Lee's sixth time in Cannes' official lineup. He also screened She's Gotta Have It and Jungle Fever in competition, Girl 6 out of competition and Summer of Sam in Directors Fortnight.

Also on hand were castmembers Jasper Paakkonen, Laura Harrier, Corey Hawkins and Damaris Lewis; Focus CEO Peter Kujawski; Jane Fonda; Benicio Del Toro; Chris Tucker; jury members including Cate Blanchett and Kristen Stewart; Alexandre Desplat; Agnes Varda; Michelle Rodriguez; Naomi Campbell; Nicole Scherzinger; Petra Nemcova; Alexa Ray Joel; Alessandra Ambrosio; and Bella Hadid.

Spike seems to be making a big comeback.

I also want to see his Amazon movie, Pass Over. It stars a dude that did a lot of really good theater stuff over here in the CHI.

With that Oldboy remake that I couldn't watch on general principle, and that absolutely horrible Chi-raq movie, it wasn't looking too good for my boy.

Good to see him get back on track. From the looks of it, at least.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Based off of the reaction, it deserved the Palme' D'Or.

I'm happy every time Spike gets a trophy, but the historic value of this film is his collaboration with Jordan Peele. I value that above everything that is happening around this film and hope that Spike gets to develop collaborative relationships with established young Black filmmakers in the same way he fostered relationships with Denzel, Wesley, Bill Nunn, Sam, Giancarlo, etc....

You can argue Inside Man. You can argue 25th Hour.

But this feels like absolute CLASSIC Spike Lee. It's REALLY fucking good - a great mix of humor, satire, immense darkness, and just an incredible story. I love Bamboozled, but I think this succeeds in all the ways that one didn't in terms of satire, etc. It takes every opportunity to remind you of how relevant this story is right now.

At the end, you could hear a pin drop.

Shit's flames....go see this one.

>You can argue Inside Man. You can argue 25th Hour.
>
>But this feels like absolute CLASSIC Spike Lee. It's REALLY
>fucking good - a great mix of humor, satire, immense darkness,
>and just an incredible story. I love Bamboozled, but I think
>this succeeds in all the ways that one didn't in terms of
>satire, etc. It takes every opportunity to remind you of how
>relevant this story is right now.
>
>At the end, you could hear a pin drop.
>
>Shit's flames....go see this one.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blackkklansman-2018

“BlacKkKlansman” presents racism as a dichotomy between the absurd and the dangerous; the film’s intentional laughs often get caught in one’s throat. Director Spike Lee and his co-screenwriters Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott adapt a tale of deception based on some “fo’ real, fo’ real sh*t” that was first covered in Ron Stallworth’s 2014 memoir. Stallworth was a Black Colorado Springs police officer who successfully infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, going so far as to speak with David Duke on several occasions. Stallworth’s undercover police work, aided by an immeasurable assist from his White partner, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) helped expose and quash an attack on Black activists.


This is not Lee’s first cinematic depiction of the KKK. In “Malcolm X,” he presented them riding “victoriously” into the night while a preposterously large moon hung in the sky. It’s a quick scene but its intentions are unmistakable: Lee is evoking D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” one of the most effective pieces of propaganda racism ever had, but he’s not paying it any tribute. Instead, the obvious fakery of the gorgeous, celestial backdrop behind the Klan served as a middle finger to Griffith and his film. Though the action in Lee’s scene is dramatically potent and played straight, the technique itself is parodic, as if to call bullshit on the notion that Griffith’s filmmaking prowess excused the vileness of what he depicted.

In “BlacKkKlansman,” Lee has more middle fingers to wave at Griffith’s alleged “masterpiece,” starting with the use of footage from “The Birth of a Nation” itself. We are shown it being screened at a Klan meeting, and it also figures in a pre-credits short film starring Alec Baldwin, playing the awesomely named Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard. As in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” he sinks his teeth into a ranting monologue, except rather than harping on steak knives and potential unemployment, this incarnation of Baldwin is peddling racism on a filmstrip. And he’s far from perfect at doing so; several times he stammers over his words or needs to be fed lines from an off-screen script person.

What Dr. Beauregard says is disgusting, yet it prepares us for the horrible slurs and comments we’ll hear almost non-stop for the next 135 minutes. Lee projects distracting images over Beauregard as he delivers his imperfect line readings, highlighting his incompetence to the point where you might ask yourself “who’d believe a thing this guy is selling?” But Dr. Beauregard will have plenty of buyers. They’ll forgive that he looks ridiculous because they believe, as Randy Newman once sang, that “he may be a fool, but he’s our fool.”

Next, we meet our protagonist, who is played by Denzel Washington’s lookalike son, John David Washington. Like his Pops, the younger Washington is beloved by Lee’s camera. From his first appearance, cinematographer Chayse Irvin caresses his handsomeness with a delicate touch that is curiously chaste for a Spike Lee Joint. As Ron Stallworth approaches the Colorado Springs Police Department building, the camera hangs above him as he walks into frame. With his impressive '70s-era threads and an enviable halo of Afro-formed hair, Stallworth looks as if he has emerged from a funky, soul-filled ether. Using our viewpoint like a mirror, he pats his coif and stares directly at us with a confidence that will be repeatedly tested. His job interview serves as his first quiz.

“We’ve never had a Black police officer,” Stallworth is told. “So you’ll be the Jackie Robinson of the Colorado Springs police department.” This analogy is a loaded and telling statement; Robinson was ruthlessly taunted by baseball fans who hurled the ugliest rhetoric at him, to which he could offer no response lest he be seen as “uncivilized” by the White fans who didn’t want him there in the first place.

Police Chief Bridges (Robert John Burke) wants to ensure there will be no Negro insurrections if his officers get a little rowdy with the new recruit. “What would you do if someone here called you a nigger?” Bridges’ cohort asks Stallworth. “That would happen?” Stallworth asks incredulously. The response to this question provides the biggest laugh of the year.

How you look will lead to assumptions about how you should act, and what you should believe. This is an underlying theme of “BlacKkKlansman.” Stallworth wants to be an undercover detective, but as Zimmerman notes, no rookie has ever been given this work, and certainly not a rookie of color. However, after a tense stint in the records room, Stallworth is assigned to infiltrate a Black student group’s rally with activist and former Black Panther Kwame Ture (an electric Corey Hawkins). Chief Bridges’ intentions for this stakeout are outwardly racist—he doesn’t want the town’s Black folks to suddenly become radicalized and excited by the fervor of Ture’s speech—but Stallworth takes the assignment in order to connect with the community.

Stallworth’s stakeout is the film’s first brush with the concept of passing. After all, passing is a form of going undercover, albeit permanently. The rally introduces Stallworth to student group organizer Patrice (Laura Harrier), whose rightful suspicion about the cops will keep him passing as a civilian in order to woo her. But “BlacKkKlansman” really delves into the art of passing when Stallworth becomes involved with its most common form, that of an African-American passing for White. After seeing an ad in the paper for the Klan, Stallworth calls the number and convincingly spouts all kinds of offensive invective. The sight of a Black man talking about how much he hates Blacks plays up the absurd side of racism. As a result, Stallworth’s evil White persona gets invited to a meet-and-greet.

Here’s where Flip Zimmerman enters the picture. There’s credible evidence that the KKK may be planning an act of violence during the appearance of another famous civil rights activist (whose identity I won’t reveal). Stallworth wants to get close enough to the Klan to thwart it. But his phone shenanigans can only take him so far; for personal appearances, he needs a more convincing guise. Zimmerman, a non-practicing Jewish man, gets the job. Billing themselves “The Stallworth Brothers,” the two share an identity while working the case. Zimmerman is the “face” of Ron Stallworth, and the real Stallworth is the suspicious Black man following him around in the shadows taking surveillance pictures. Just for fun, Zimmerman learns how to mimic Stallworth’s “White voice” by reciting lyrics by America’s true poet of Soul, James Brown.

With this undercover case, “BlacKkKlansman” becomes the story of two people engaged in the same bout of passing as a racist White person. Though Zimmerman, by virtue of the correct skin color, has what seems to be the easier task, he also bears the psychological brunt of having to pretend to be something that would despise his true identity. It’s here where Lee works that aforementioned dichotomy, often playing Stallworth’s phone interactions for laughs (especially when talking to an excellent Topher Grace as David Duke) but keeping a masterful, tense grip on Zimmerman’s scenes. There’s always a sense he’ll be outed, especially by the tenacious Felix (a scary Jasper Pääkkönen), who immediately pegs him as Jewish and never lets up on his suspicions. Eventually, the two tonal halves converge in a climactic race against time that is among the most harrowing and provocative work Lee has done.

While Washington is very, very good here, I was more fascinated by Driver’s character. I think it’s partially because I have firsthand knowledge of what Ron Stallworth went through as the sole Black person at his job. The open hostility, the jokes by his White counterparts, the assumption that your skin color determines your intelligence level—I've been there, done that and am still doing it. What drew me to Flip Zimmerman was the notion of him having to "pass" in an environment that also automatically made assumptions about his skin color. But his passing isn't visual, it's mental. As someone who never gave much thought to his Jewishness, Zimmerman cannot help but dwell on it all the time amidst the constant anti-Semitic comments of his newfound friends.

"Why don't you think you have skin in this game?," Stallworth asks his partner. Because Zimmerman has the capacity to dodge the hatred that would be directed at him should he choose to do so. But I have often wondered how much this act of self-preservation cost the person who pulled it off. For Zimmerman, there's the ultimate goal of possible revenge against the Klan, or at the very least, an embarrassing exposure of their full ignorance. But for someone like a relative of mine who chose to live his life as a White man in North Carolina, the only goal was survival. How much of his soul did that cost, if any?

I believe Lee is similarly intrigued by Zimmerman. Unlike Stallworth, Lee never gives us a scene where Zimmerman fully feels respite nor relief from his role-playing once the case kicks in. At least Stallworth has a romance to distract him, even if he's being dishonest about what he does for a living. There are two scenes in “BlacKkKlansman” where it feels as if Lee and editor Barry Alexander Brown let them run on too long, until you realize that these scenes are showing Black people in moments where they are not worrying about anything but the joy and the power of being themselves. By contrast, Zimmerman’s scenes with the Klan always feel awful even when the crew is supposedly enjoying themselves—these scenes can’t end soon enough.

“BlacKkKlansman” clearly wants to be the anti-“Birth of a Nation,” and I’m sure some less-enlightened people will consider it on that same level of racial propaganda. But what else do Lee and his producer Jordan Peele want to accomplish with this astonishing, funny and important film? The answer is most likely in the film’s coda, which shows footage from the incident in Charlottesville that cost Heather Heyer her life. In fact, this film opens on the anniversary weekend of those events. This raw footage, which arrives after perhaps the best use ever of Lee’s trademark people-mover shot, is both a massively effective, righteous trolling and a terrifying reminder that we are not so far removed from the period-piece world we have just witnessed. And Lee, a man who never gave a damn about what anyone thought of his politics, is fearless in speaking truth to power with this film. Lee dedicates “BlacKkKlansman” to Heyer’s memory, writing “rest in power” under a picture of her before ending his film with the only Prince song that could have ended it.

This is not only one of the year’s best films but one of Lee’s best as well. Juggling the somber and the hilarious, the sacred and the profane, the tragedy and the triumph, the director is firing on all cylinders here. "BlacKkKlansman" is a true conversation starter, and probably a conversation ender as well.

As another poster said, up there with Inside Man and 25th Hour. He actually puts it in Spikes top 3 best films. I can't wait to catch this. I got tickets for opening night at the Alamo. Low key mad that I missed tickets for the live Q&A with Spike and the author of the book but oh well.

But you don't post shit about Blk movies. You post about how PTP hates Blk movies. That is some empty 'Raise Your Fist' while in your cubicle, but 'My Dashiki is at the cleaners' type bullshit.

I don't really give a fuck about the people on here who don't like Blk Movies, hate Spike, don't know who Bradford Young is, or haven't seen 'To Sleep With Anger'. I really love Blk movies, and so I make posts about them. I would appreciate if you actually contributed to the posts that I make about Blk movies instead of doing whatever it is you think you're doing.

he's being sarcastic, exposing the lie spread by others that PTP does not discuss and like black (Blk?) movies. as for this one, can't wait.

To a post HE himself responded to.

This was obvious. *shrug*

Of the post you previously replied too.

I can't imagine riding a horse high enough to accomplish that, but goddmanit, you woke up today and decided that you were going to be an overachiever.

Bless your heart.

Also, lighten up, Francis.

.

for a while. i initially came out upset....but about what, i don't know.

I gotta sleep on this to give my impressions but fuck that was incredible

towards the end when the hoods where out there for the cross burning...the camera
panned up to a 'covered' face underneath of the sheet. who was that? a
random guy?

>towards the end when the hoods where out there for the cross
>burning...the camera
> panned up to a 'covered' face underneath of the sheet. who
>was that? a
>random guy?

The racist crooked police officer they ended up arresting (or the chief himself ha)

Makes sense, though.

I *think* they showed the dude having a beard. And Drivers character had that and he made that speech about basically not even thinking of himself as being Jewish. Hope his ass didnt get indoctrinated subconsciously.


>Makes sense, though.

I was looking HARD AS HELL trying to see who that was under that hood. If it was him...


WOW

I like that touch though - to put some doubt in the audience

I couldn't quite make out who it was either, which I think was the point.

But having it be his character would make no sense.

that there's no real answer

i don't think it was the racist cop they recorded, though earlier i had assumed he'd pop up somewhere at a meeting and be the one who blew Flip/Ron's cover.

cause i thought it was his partner at first but, i was like nahhh that can't be LOL

Spike is one of my all-time favorites, and this is him absolutely in the goddamn pocket. Everyone needs to see this.

A few early parts were awkward and took me out of the movie (i.e. the This some "Fo Real Fo Real Shit" intro, and the main dude doing kung-fu moves after the racist encounter in the evidence room).

I dug it. Washington was good in the role. He's got a way to go to hit the level of depth and charisma that his daddy brings to roles, but he did right by the part. Adam Driver was good too, and maybe even outshined the lead even in a role that didn't have as much to it.

It was kind of a movie where the characters and themes and stuff far outweigh the actual plot. The climax with the mail bomb scheme and all wasn't really a satisfying payoff, but it's almost like that wasn't the main focus.

I thought the ending was a bit heavy handed. Like, I envisioned Keenan Ivory Wayans popping up to say "MESSAGE!!!" But still kind of a poignant wake up call.

Overall, those were small nitpicks in a really good movie. It makes me want to read the book, which I think might be the best accomplishment a movie adaptation can do.

>I thought the ending was a bit heavy handed. Like, I
>envisioned Keenan Ivory Wayans popping up to say "MESSAGE!!!"
>But still kind of a poignant wake up call.

there were plenty of lines in the movie that were not so subtle jabs at trumpism, but I still think in this case, the drive that point home/bullhorn/"Message!" method was called for

While I enjoyed the hell out of the movie, to read this does disappoint me a bit. Thoughts?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/boots-riley-slams-blackkklansman-as-made-up-story-softening-realities-police-brutality-1135797

(SWIPE)

Sorry to Bother You filmmaker Boots Riley is taking aim at BlacKkKlansman as it enters its second weekend at the box office and calling Spike Lee's latest film a "made up story" that softens the reality of police brutality and police shootings of black Americans.

In a three-page essay attached to a tweet on Friday, Riley laid out his argument against the film. His thesis, written a quarter of the way into the story, posits that the movie is "a made up story in which the false parts of it to try to make a cop the protagonist in the fight against racist oppression. It's being put while Black Lives Matter is a discussion, and this is not coincidental. There is a viewpoint behind it."

Lee's movie, which released last weekend, is based on real-life policeman Ron Stallworth's 2014 memoir Black Klansman. The film follows the Colorado Springs detective (played by John David Washington) as he infiltrates a local division of the Ku Klux Klan, first by speaking to members over the phone and subsequently by instructing a white colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), to act in his stead in in-person meetings with the Klan.

In its first weekend, Lee's film grossed $10.8 million at the box office, which was "a solid start for a specialty film launching in summer versus during awards season," The Hollywood Reporter's Pamela McClintock wrote.

Riley argued the film included "fabricated" story points because the real-life Stallworth infiltrated a black radical group for three years instead of briefly, as the film appeared to portray. There, Riley says, "he did what all papers from the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program (Cointelpro) that were found through the freedom of information act tell us he did- sabatoge a Black radical organization whose intent had to do with at the very least fighting racist oppression."

Riley also takes issue with a bombing scene in the film, the Flip Zimmerman character's Jewish heritage, a scene of a cop expressing racist views at a bar and a scene involving Civil Rights organizer Kwame Ture, among other points.

Riley added that black Americans face "actual physical attacks and terrorizing due to racism and racist doctrines" mostly from the police on a day-to-day basis. "So for Spike Lee to come to come out with a movie where a story points are fabricated in order to make Black cop and his counterparts look like allies in the fight against racism is very disappointing, to put it very mildly," he wrote.

Riley ended the piece with a reference to recent reports that Lee was paid $200,000 in 2016 to work with the NYPD on an ad campaign that attempted to improve relations with minority communities in the city. "Whether it actually is or not, BlacKkKlansman feels like an extension of that ad campaign," Riley wrote.

Riley's film, Sorry to Bother You, is entering its seventh weekend in theaters.

Lee declined to comment on Riley's essay.

Read Riley's full essay below.

(can't copy/paste essay because it's just a screenshot of text smh)

I have to read the source material, but yeah, if those were the facts, it's pretty disappointing.

I was under the impression COINTELPRO were strictly Federally staffed. Is Boots saying Ron Stallworth worked as a Federal employee for COINTELPRO or did COINTELPRO use local police staff under their auspices?

If either of those are true, that definitely colors this Ron Stallworth dude in a whole different light given how destructive COINTELPRO was.

or not, Ronald Stallworth helped infiltrate black organizations in order to disrupt and destabilize them, which is what we know the COINTELPRO for. that said, this has been going on in a multitude of ways outside of the specific COINTELPRO.

Spike Lee has been doing what Boots Riley just did for decades now, so I don't feel sorry or conflicted in the least.

>
as the movie states

I certainly didn't think, in a movie that compares police to the KKK in several places, that Spike is remotely suggesting that cops are on the front lines of fighting racism. One can absolutely argue that he's suggesting that cops need to do *more*, and that they need to work in conjunction with those activists who fight racism full time-- those I can see, and one could certainly criticize those suggestions. But I definitely don't think the movie is pro-cop. The movie's protagonist's central struggle is "how can I fight racism *and* be a cop?" for Christ's sake-- and there is no resolution to that struggle at film's end.

The scene where they bust the racist cop and act buddy-buddy felt to me like an obvious build-up to the betrayal by those above him that happens after, in which the KKK investigation is shut down-- and someone can correct me, but I believe the police chief suggests that they'll use him elsewhere, like "in narcotics"-- which I took to mean what it meant at the beginning, that the cops' main need for black officers is to infiltrate and take down other black people.

There may not be easy answers, and I'm confident that Stallworth's real life work being changed will open the film up to further criticism-- but biopic central figures have their lives streamlined/"sanitized" all the time by filmmakers who are looking to use those characters to make their own points. I think Spike does a brilliant job at creating the illusion that "extremes on both sides" are bad, until you get to the movie's doozy of an ending and you see that's he done, in essence, what he did with the destruction of Sal's in DTRT. He's created a conversation starter-- and if you take from it one thing or another, it likely says more about you than it does about the film. That's a mark of great art to me, imo.

So I love Boots and I loved his movie... but the pro-cop read doesn't align with what the story on screen suggested, imo. Interested to hear if other people thought the film was "pro-police."

Personally I would have been fine with a 'pro-cop' movie about infiltrating the KKK...if it was actually true to the facts, or at least close to it.

I want to fact check the things Boots Riley mentioned. In general, I also want to know what Stallworth's undercover work against the KKK even accomplished.

In the movie, sure, he "stopped" a potential bombing put together by a small band of mostly stupid KKK members. It was hardly the big shakedown that the movie seemed to be leading up to. I thought it would end in a sort of Scorsese montage where all these higher up people get cuffed and arrested, or something implying that Stallworth went up the ladder to really make a difference. Nope, just a bomb threat put up by bumbling idiots.

And even part that never actually happened.

In my mind all that's really left is a KKK episode of Crank Yankers.

If it weren't for the montage at the end, reflecting on past events and how things are in the current climate, sure, I could forgive the made up elements. But for a movie trying to make strong statements about today, but then making up just about all of the major points of the movie, and making heroes out of real life people who were anything BUT heroes...I kind of take issue with that.

This AND Sorry to Bother You both have a place.

One of the best scenes in any movie this year. Overall the movie was a strong output, some stuff felt formulaic but the Charlottesville footage at the end really worked to close it

I dunno, maybe this movie didn't impress me too much because the Ron Stallworth character wasn't really given a solid background or foundation for the audience to truly care about him. Nothing too deep about his family and I vaguely remember him mentioning to the female foil as to why he wanted to be a cop, but that wasn't that impressionable to me. Not to say this was a bad Spike Lee flick, but I don't get all the folks saying this is top level Spike Lee.

I'll leave out my other criticisms since they aren't of the nitpicking variety, but the main character not having a strong background story bothered me for the entirety the movie.

But I don't get the need for Ron Stallworth's backstory. I think you kinda get everything you need to know from his opening scene. He desperately wants to be a cop, everything is stacked against him, and he finds his lane quickly. That's all I needed to care about him as a character, myself.

WE MUST KNOOOOOOOOOOW

I haven't watched any of Spike's films in the recent past but to my recollection, his characters usually aren't deeply drawn. And this movie is no exception in that sense.

Like you said, you get no sense of the man Ron is and even less of the other characters, except maybe Flip, who probably gave one of the best moments in the movie when he outlined his relationship with his heritage.

Also, do we really accept that Ron's partners would be so gung-ho with a rookie jumping the line and leading an operation? And one so potentially dangerous to Flip? And while there was a couple of cops who used offensive slang while Ron was in the Records Room, isn't it clear that a police department would have more than one racist? Granted, doing all of that justice would have taken a mini-series to flesh out. But I think people who don't like the movie are right to think the movie's characterizations and writing wasn't up to par with the emotive qualities the movie did so well.

Also, Ron's internal conflict was rarely addressed on screen. Like I get that he wants to make a name for himself and exposing the Klan was an extension of the radicalization he had after hearing Ture speak. But you can't tell me that spewing all of that racist rhetoric to Duke, Walter, and the other Klansmen didn't take some type of psychological toll on Ron or the fact that he was an embodiment of the 'double consciousness' that was only hinted at during the scene with the BCA President in the park.

Spike was obviously less interested in describing the interior life of Ron than showing him as a hero. But hero stories are usually more impactful when we see more of the internal obstacles at play.

white ppl seem to love the movie, I just thought it was real corny... the dialogue just didn't feel real at all... and I get spike's love for satire... but yo... that one scene where the white supremacist couple are having a convo in bed... yikes...

I honestly think the love of the movie is fueled by white guilt and a hate for trump

simply don't see how else that movie got an award at Cannes

I mean, it's easily his best since 2006 (When the Levees Broke, Inside Man). That in and of itself is a feat.

DTRT
Malcolm X
Inside Man
25th Hour
Mo' Better Blues
He Got Game
Summer of Sam
Clockers

I

But I do think some of the appeal is that this movie reminds people of the rabbel rouser that Spike was during his heyday.

But isn't actually really well made.

I got caught up in the myth of Ron. A man who's characterization, made him out to be a model Black man. He was willing to play his part as he 'infiltrated' a historically White institution, but wasn't willing to lose his sense of integrity or authenticity. He was smart and made the right choice all of the time and never showed doubt. He managed to both do right by Black people and satisfy his White supervisors. Not an easy task.

After coming out of the theatre my social awareness was kind of awakened and I felt that my Blackness was being affirmed. Nice fan service.

But after the movie, I talked with my sister who saw the movie with me and her take was on the opposite end of the spectrum from mine. (typical Spike)

While I was caught up in the emotional reaction and experience, she soberly watched the movie and noticed that on a technical level the movie simply wasn't that good.

The characters for instance. Most modern movies who are well reviewed or regarded draw deeply drawn, three-dimensional characters who not only display heroism and courage but struggle with doubt, disbelief, loss. We can see the thread of their current day personality from the significant events, both major and minor, in their past.

Also, the supporting characters not only advance the plot but also are given license to develop alongside the main character.

There are twists and unexpected developments in the plot.

Again, while I liked the movie, Black KKKlansman had none of these.

The characters were flat. Never changed. Outside of Flip's really nice moment with Ron where he details his non-existent relationship with his heritage, we don't get a sense of who these men are.

And we get even less of the Black Student Associations president who plays a well-dressed damsel in distress.

Spike has earned a reputation of having poorly drawn women characters and the character of the Student president (so poorly drawn that I can't for the life of me remember anything about her, including her name.) is another example of that.

Also, like I mentioned before, why wasn't Ron more emotional torn about the role he had to play as an infiltrator of a group actively fighting for Black liberation, being thought of as less than at work, and encountering blistering racial microaggressions interacting with the Klansmen? Spike did a much better job showing that double consciousness at work in DTRT.

Also, and I have to say that this is a personal thing, the language in this movie somewhat took me out of the movie. I know Spike's dialogue, especially of White characters, is not written to be natural. After hearing nigger or sp--r ch--k-r so many times, I just disconnected. I am a sensitive person so you may not have felt that way and I know the intent was to draw attention to the evil of the group but it would have been better to use the language more selectively, for effect, than to dilute the impact by using it so often.

The ending was bad. The scenario with the racist cop was so outlandish that it made me think it was a dream sequence. And while I personally thought the coda of the footage was overkill, my sister said that there is a segment of the audience that needed to see the parallels between the movie's events and the White nationalism being spewed out by 45, Duke and others.

All that being said, I did enjoy the time in the theater. I think the best decision Spike made was to put the statement at the beginning of the film because it spelled out that this was more blaxsploitation than period drama. I came out of the theater hyped up.

The cinematography and costumes were good. And the movie is visceral, mostly for the better.

It did a good enough job connecting dot to dot. But I don't think I know either Ron Stallworth or the Klan's motives any much better than I did going in.

I think this is a movie where Spike fans are hyped to see him make a movie that throwsback to his prime. But as a movie I don't think this is one of his best.

The final act is abysmal even for Spike (not counting the coda or Harry Belafonte lynching scene).

The comeuppance for the racist cop was just....I'm speechless.

The bombing sequence was fucking amateur hour.

How this got awarded Best Adapted Screenplay I'll never understand.

The movie fails to even make the whole thing make sense. At no point do we understand why, after the initial contact by Stallworth, he's allowed to continue via phone while Zimmerman is the in person contact. The scene with him trying to teach Zimmerman how to speak like him using 'Soul Power' fails because it addresses the issue head-on only to not resolve it in any way. He still doesn't sound like him or even attempt to.

Also, everything with the Black Student Union president was just embarrassing. Never did we get a sense that their relationship was real or romantic. They spend most of the film just talking at each other. Usually it takes a white person to fail in a depiction of black love/relationship to this degree. That walk and talk with them talking about Blaxploitation and the scene where he reveals he's a cop were some of Spike's worst instincts on display.

Sure there is some good stuff stuff here (his indictment of white women was fierce, the transformation/legitimization of orgs like the Klan, the Belafonte lynching story, Driver and Washington's chemistry) and there's some great acting and it's funny. But this is nowhere near Spike's best work. Mid-tier at best.

I get why white people would fawn over it though. It resolves them of responsibility the whites in the film are so cartoonish and boorish that they are immediately buffered from them. Plus, they get to not only that they saw the film but, 'Oh my God, it was sooooooo good'. The problem is, it isn't. It's not particularly well made so why then are you telling me it's so good? Don't worry, I already know why. That was rhetorical.

You know what, I may have just written my way into hating this movie.

>
>I get why white people would fawn over it though. It resolves
>them of responsibility the whites in the film are so
>cartoonish and boorish that they are immediately buffered from
>them. Plus, they get to not only that they saw the film but,
>'Oh my God, it was sooooooo good'. The problem is, it isn't.
>It's not particularly well made so why then are you telling me
>it's so good? Don't worry, I already know why. That was
>rhetorical.
>
>You know what, I may have just written my way into hating this
>movie.
>
>
>
>