CLOCKERS
A film review by M. Isaacs
Copyright 1995 M. Isaacs
Spike Lee's CLOCKERS is another mixed bag from the director and considering the powerful novel from which he had to work, it must be considered somewhat of a disappointment.
It was impossible to read Price's novel without thinking of Martin Scorsese directing it even long before he became affiliated with the project. Scorsese has been brilliant in not only painting the decay of urban landscapes but in getting under the skin of the people who occupy them. It is a literary accomplishment that Price achieved the same feat with flying colors.
Like JUNGLE FEVER and other recent Lee films, there are scenes in this movie that work well but they exist in a vacuum. The credit sequence is powerful and unforgettable; the initial on-the-scene investigation of the dead body is unblinking and preserves the unsentimental tone of the Price novel; the documentary-style of how the clocking process works is exceptional; the few scenes centered on the mini-drug king, Rodney, are staggering; and the young and largely unknown cast makes a convincing ensemble.
But the movie never quite pulls together as it should because like usual of late, Lee keeps getting in the way of his own movie. In scenes throughout, the editing tries to artificially jack up the tension when the material is more than enough to develop that tension; characters are shot in extreme close-up when there is no justifiable artistic reason to do so so often; and some art-school devices such as Rocco reflected in Strike's eye and Rocco running beside a kid on a bicycle are pointless exercises in flamboyance. Furthermore, the entire movie is over-scored.
Lee's two cameo appearances may strike some as a small quibble but I think they indicate Lee's narcissism and willingness to dwarf his own material. He made the right decision to cast some unknown actors in the film to give his world more authenticity and remove from it a safe Hollywood flavor. But in both scenes where Lee appears--critical scenes to the movie may I add--he immediately pulls us from the grit of the movie he has created. This isn't an Alfred Hitchcock movie where the tone is devilish and playful. Hitchcock's appearances only supported the tone of his movies; Lee's appearances simply crash the tone he has worked hard to establish.
I've read a plethora of reviews of high praise for CLOCKERS. Many have said it is Lee's best film to date and certainly better than DO THE RIGHT THING. I disagree. In the latter, Lee was able to carve out three-dimensional characters and include important development that just isn't in CLOCKERS. The Danny Aiello character in DO THE RIGHT THING emerges through the relationship to his sons and the community. He ultimately is a complex character and what is so special about the film is the way we see how his racism has formed and how his sons have reacted to that. Lee is dealing with a tapestry of characters in that movie, too, but we still get small and informative insights about them along the way. The Ozzie Davis character and Lee's own "Mookie" are just two characters who emerge more three-dimensional than any of the people who populate CLOCKERS.
Think about the scenes where Aiello talks to his son about how hard he has worked to create his pizza business; or Lee reacting to his lover and son; or a lonely Davis trying to court "Sister Sister." We need that kind of insight in CLOCKERS--especially more dimension to Keitel's character and more insight into Strike as well.
Lee is certainly a gifted director and creates a world that closes in on Strike with some passion and urgency. But he is unwilling to stay out of the way of his own material. Too often, we want to see more Rocco and Strike and less of the wizardry that Spike Lee is way too eager to serve up these days.
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