Spike Lee’s best movie.
BlacKKKlansman succeeds on pretty much every level, as film and polemic. I definitely think it should be seen by everyone.
The performances are exceptional, but my favorite thing is how canny it plays as 70’s pastiche. That’s a film genre of its own nowadays, and BlaKKKlansman hits its marks with lovely subtlety. There’s a shot of Washington crossing a field to examine cut out racist silhouettes that have been used for target practice that literally made my heart swell with appreciation for its nostalgic craftmanship.
But I’m going to call BlacKKKlansman out for its bullshit, too.
Lee doesn’t trust the true story to be dramatic enough, so he tarts it up with a closeted Jewish cop and an improbable bombing plot. More focus on the college group and their goals and guest speakers would have given the film gravitas and power and not seemed as dramatically suspect. As the final news footage shows, it wasn’t necessary to reach so far for context or relevance. As to the use of that footage… meh… it’s a choice, and Lee has never trusted his audience to connect the dots.
And a movie this good should’t have fat jokes. Period.
in the dark 