BBB
(out of 5)
Spike Lee’s bittersweet love poem to the Big Apple is a dark, brooding tale of hope and redemption. Edward Norton gives a fine performance as a drug dealer who has one last day of freedom left before having to finally give himself over to the police to serve his jail sentence. He spends the day with his two best friends (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper) and his father (Brian Cox), all the while avoiding his girlfriend (Rosario Dawson) whom he suspects might have been the one to rat him out to the cops. The rest of the time he walks the streets of his beloved Manhattan, expressing in anger everything that drives him crazy about it (and is therefore why he loves it so much). Too many scenes in this film run on way past their prime, a similar fault that Summer of Sam suffered from, but it is still so worthwhile because of Lee’s effectively capturing a battered, post-9/11 city whose bleeding heart remains an open wound. The shots of Ground Zero are especially eerie beyond belief; this is definitely not the Manhattan of Woody Allen or Sex and the City. Terence Blanchard contributes one of the most beautiful film scores of the year, the key element that gives this very emotional film its almost nightmarish mood.
25th Hour Productions, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, Gamut Films, Industry Entertainment, Touchstone Pictures
USA, 2002
Directed by Spike Lee
Screenplay by David Benioff, based on his novel
Cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto
Produced by Julia Chasman, Jon Kilik, Spike Lee, Tobey Maguire
Music by Terence Blanchard
Production Design by James Chinlund
Costume Design by Sandra Hernandez
Film Editing by Barry Alexander Brown
Film Festivals: Berlin 2003
Cast Tags: A.J. McCoy, Aaron Stanford, Al Palagonia, Alan Taraseiwicz, Andre Fletcher, Anna Paquin, Armando Riesco, Barry Pepper, Brad Williams, Brian Cox, Carl Bini, Christine Pepe,Coati Mundi, Cynthia Darlow, Dania Ramirez, Daniel Reton, DJ Cipha Sounds,Douglas Miller, Ed Rubeo, Edward Norton, Felicia Finley, Howard Crowns, Igor Zhivotovsky,Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jamil Mullen, Jeffrey Palazzo, John Bergen, Joseph Mascall, Keith Nobbs,Larissa Drekonja, Lawrence Bullock, Levan Uchaneishvili, Louis Modafferi, Maja Niles, Marc H. Simon, Michael Genet, Michole Briana White, Mike Fiore, Misha Kuznetsov, Nicholas Rossomodo, Oleg Aleksandrovich Prudius, Patrice O’Neal, Patrick Illig, Paul Diomede, Peter James Kelsch, Philip Seymour Hoffman, R.L. Brazil, Radu Spinghel, Rodney ‘Bear’ Jackson, Rosario Dawson, Tony Devon, Tony Siragusa, Vanessa Ferlito
Golden Globe Award Nomination
Best Original Score-Motion Picture (Elmer Bernstein)
Boston Film Critics Award Nomination
Best Screenplay
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