In monologues at the beginning and end of Spike Lee's incendiary Summer of Sam, newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin characterises New York City as the city he loves and hates in equal measure. Many people - residents and those who've had the privilege of visiting the amazing centre of the American universe - share this intense ambivalence. It's a city of remarkable extremes, showcasing the best and the worst of just about everything urban.
Events during the summer of 1977 gave many people reason to hate New York. The city was hot, violent and plagued by a killer preying upon young women. Summer of Sam revisits that remarkable summer, and if there's a gram of passion in your soul, you'll come away from viewing this film feeling angry and upset.
This movie is constantly in motion, spinning from one level of the story to another. There are creepy scenes of the killer, who called himself 'Son of Sam,' committing his crimes and writing taunting notes to Breslin and the police. We see life in New York City during July 1977: amidst a nasty heat wave, beset with rioting, cheering on the Yankees baseball team's pennant drive, dancing to disco music and its opposite - punk rock. The film is dripping with sweat, immersing its audience in a fascinating and intense time and place.
Vinny (John Leguizamo) is a self-indulgent young man whose 'traditional values' conveniently allow him to place his beautiful wife (Mira Sorvino) on a pedestal, while he commits scandalous acts with every other woman he can get his hands on. His dumb, drug-pushing friends are intent upon catching the Son of Sam. Their brutal incompetence is matched only by that of the New York City Police, who seem helpless in the face of the killer. Although the characters, and their stories, are secondary to this film's skilfully-drawn atmosphere, their bad judgement parallels the excesses of the killer and the city itself.
Leguizamo plays the stupid, self-destructive Vinny with considerable energy. Sorvino has several powerful scenes as her character eventually tires of her hypocritical marriage, exploding with anger, finally ceasing to be Vinny's bauble. Adrien Brody delivers a thoughtful and sympathetic performance as Ritchie, Vinny's confused and alienated friend.
Summer of Sam is a compelling film, whether viewed as human tragedy, social commentary or artistic rendering of New York's excesses. It is, in fact, all three. In mid-film, Lee delivers a brilliant montage of violence and angst, choreographed to The Who's 'Baba O'Riley.' Throughout the film, the music of The Who is used to great effect, interspersed with the harsher sounds of punk and the mindless beat of disco.
Summer of Sam is not for the faint of heart. It is intense, graphically violent and disturbing. All of this has a purpose. This might, as Jimmy Breslin tells us, just be one of eight million stories in the city, but it is one that's passionate, powerful and unforgettable. This big, gripping, disturbing film might not be everyone's cop of tea, but it's wonderful filmmaking.
