Summer of Sam (1999)

reviewed by
David Sunga

SUMMER OF SAM (1999)

Rating: 3.0 stars (out of 4.0)
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Key to rating system:
2.0 stars - Debatable
2.5 stars - Some people may like it
3.0 stars - I liked it
3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out
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A Movie Review by David Sunga

Directed by: Spike Lee

Written by: Spike Lee, Victor Colicchio and Michael Imperioli

Starring: John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, and Jennifer Esposito

Synopsis: It's 1977 in a small Italian American neighborhood in New York. Disco music is popular, and the Sexual Revolution is on, but the people of New York are not happy. In fact, they're terrified. As in Spike Lee's DO THE RIGHT THING a heat wave has the city in its grip, and peoples' tempers are flaring. The cool of night offers no respite: the neighborhood is being terrorized by a nocturnal psychotic killer who calls himself the Son of Sam. No one knows who the Son of Sam is, and no one is safe.

All around New York people are different. Aside from cultural groupings and ethnic neighborhoods there are differences between individuals. In the Italian American section of town a philandering husband named Vinny (John Leguizamo) tries to hide his trysts and sexual behavior from his long suffering newlywed wife Dionna (Mira Sorvino). Vinny's friend Ritchie (Adrien Brody) hates disco, works at a gay strip club and doesn't want any of the neighborhood folks to know. Ritchie's girl Ruby (Jennifer Esposito) is trying to escape a reputation as a slut. Everyone's different, but nobody in the film wants to be framed as "alien" to the community.

Unfortunately, the killings help create a climate of suspicion pits neighbor against neighbor.

Opinion: Director Spike Lee's SUMMER OF SAM is not about a psycho killer. Nor is it about cops trying to apprehend him. It's about differences and how, given the right conditions, even close neighbors can fan the hostile flames of irrational suspicion.

One thing I found interesting in SUMMER OF SAM was the use of sex. In other movies sex is glamorized. For example, James Bond gets a sexual reward for winning. Or boring made-for-video "suspense" movies are spiked with gratuitous lingerie scenes just to keep the audience awake. And every movie or soap opera character in these flicks seems to have expert sexual prowess. Not so with SUMMER OF SAM. In a very gutsy move director Spike Lee shows sex without fantasy. Sex is there, but it isn't gratuitous or titillating. In fact, some of the main characters are downright lousy in bed. Sex is in the film because (sexual) deviance is part of the film's major theme of "difference" breeding hostility. In my opinion this kind of movie sex is cutting edge for 1999, as rare and thought-provoking in American cinema as showing a spanking.

Reviewed by David Sunga
July 5, 1999

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Summer of Sam (1999)

reviewed byDavid Sunga

reviewed by
David Sunga