Crooklyn
Synopsis
From Spike Lee comes this vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school-teacher, her stubborn jazz-musician husband and their five kids living in '70s Brooklyn.
Cast
Recent reviews
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Not too bad. Would watch it again
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A lot of well acted characters in a story. Some funny moments, some sad moments, an alright film.
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Spent the first half hour wondering why this wasn't commonly acknowledged as one of his best, but then it dawned on me that it couldn't possibly continue for two hours as Terrence-Malick-does-Bed-Stuy. (Not to imply he's aping someone else here - it's thoroughly Lee. For one thing, no other director would even be filming this neighborhood.) Takes a while to settle down and find an actual focus, which turns out to be a coming of age tale about Troy, the only girl of five siblings. Oddly, once it starts to focus on her it becomes more scattered (especially some detours with her father's music career, which are nevertheless good scenes), but Lee remains insightful and passionate about his characters. Have…
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A totally likable, if unusually manic, childhood remembrance piece that earns major bonus points for an insane visual idea: when Troy goes down south, to convey how weird and out-of-place she feels, Spike shoots the thing anamorphically but not widescreen, so everything looks squeezed and eye-rapey. The experiment goes on too long, but it's still appreciated. One minor carp: the soundtrack is largely too familiar. Though kudos for playing Cymande's "Bra" (later used in 25th Hour).
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Decent slice of life drama from Spike Lee, featuring an extraordinary central performance from its young star.
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I still adore this film from my childhood although they are plenty screenplay problems going on here. But the memorable cast of characters overwhelms any issues. I need to watch more Spike Lee films, I've only seen 25th Hour, He Got Game and this film.