Spike Lee's Chi-raq

This movie is not about a war. This is not a war. Wars are fought for a reason generally. People fight over land, over money. . . . That’s not what’s happening on Chicago’s South Side . . . . People like to say its gangs fighting over turf. That’s not it. It’s senseless violence. People feel disrespected and not validated. They’re poor. Guns are cheap. Drugs are cheap. Because guns and drugs are cheap senseless violence happens. The guns and drugs get into the hands of children. . . . You can pick up the story of this film and drop it into any city. Chicago was used because of the media’s portrayal of the violence and it was used as a way for Spike Lee to sell tickets. We were used. We were exploited. This story is not specific to Chicago.”
― my harp and me (Eazy), Thursday, November 5, 2015 12:02 PM (1 hour ago)

sounds like gangs fighting over turf

I can see being wary of the scenes of a gym full of women chanting no more sex slogans, there's a She Hate Me vibe there but on the whole this looks like it could be great.

That's an armory, not a gym! (Coincidentally the same Armory used for a few scenes in Contagion.)

Spike is getting an honorary Oscar a week from Saturday btw

This movie is not about a war. This is not a war. Wars are fought for a reason generally.

i always thought "chi-raq" cut both ways

this looks rad as fuck

I am assuming everybody is familiar with the Aristophanes play that this appears to be a read a read on - which was obv also in verse

very into this idea

― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, November 4, 2015 7:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this.

although, that said, i think there's been a lot of legitimate criticism of Spike Lee as an essentially middle-class (well, middle-class in background; these days he's rich) interloper in what's basically a working-class or poor milieu. and although his public statements show that he's conflicted on this issue, his films often take an implicit culture-of-poverty stance, blaming the black community for its own problems rather than diagnosing the structural problems that contribute to violence (absence of economic opportunity being the big one).

also, although the storyline would lead one to think the vibe of the film is all "girl power!," lee has an amazing knack for undermining strong roles for women with films that seem drenched in misogyny.

in other words, lee's a complex dude and this film should be interesting, whether or not it's any "good."

the biggest problem is that lee's visual sense isn't as strong as it once was. this trailer looks pretty nice, so i'll hold out some hope, but red hook summer was pretty sloppy, and not in a particularly energetic way.

it's nice to see that he and Samuel L Jackson are working together again; last I had checked they weren't on speaking terms.

I think like a lot of Lee's films it looks like a great premise or idea being set up to be ruined by whatever it is exactly that goes wrong with so many of his films.

Won't be a true return to form until we see some floating-sidewalk shots.

haha god I hate that walking-dolly thing

If this is about the french president I'm in

you all are fucking crazy

this is gonna be on like "she hate me" level of terrible

― marcos, Wednesday, November 4, 2015 9:15 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

responding to this way late but i kinda liked the absolute craziness of she hate me, it's borderline incoherent and all kinds of hashtag-problematic but kind of admirable for its commitment to that batshittery

in any event this is the first spike film since seeing the trailer for miracle at st. anna that i'm immediately interested in, and while miracle was an utter failure it was a gutsy swing for the fences in a way that none of his films in between then and now have seemed to be

admirable for its commitment to that batshittery

sums up his career nicely

def looks to be in the OTT satire on 100 thousand trillion vein of bamboozled, which i really need to see again

Won't be a true return to form until we see some floating-sidewalk shots.

― my harp and me (Eazy), Thursday, November 5, 2015 8:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there were like three briefly excepted in the trailer, weren't there? i think you're gonna be ok for them

"also, although the storyline would lead one to think the vibe of the film is all "girl power!," lee has an amazing knack for undermining strong roles for women with films that seem drenched in misogyny."

something about that gym scene just seems like it could be really irritating (still not sure why - the smugness of the tone maybe?) but hopefully thats not a big deal in the film overall.

"although, that said, i think there's been a lot of legitimate criticism of Spike Lee as an essentially middle-class (well, middle-class in background; these days he's rich) interloper in what's basically a working-class or poor milieu."

i think theres enough room now for him to be seen as more of a documenter of middle class black life than just black american life, full stop. not sure if the idea that he holds only black people to account for their problems, if that was the case, there wouldnt have been so much controversy over what he has said in interviews over the years.

will this film be on dvd at some point, or do i have to get on amazon prime or whatever to see it?

New trailer, with lengthy opening statement from Lee and a lot more speeches 'n' stuff:

http://vimeo.com/144826440

Rhymezone has longstanding objections to the term "Chiraq" generally

http://hiphopdx.com/interviews/id.2286/title.rhymefest-talks-empowering-rap-peers-disowning-chiraq-moniker

opens in ten days

http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/chi-raq-co-screenwriter-kevin-willmott-talks-the-use-of-verse-in-the-film-20151123

I can't really decide if this looks good or not, but I feel like a lot of people equate hyper-stylized with per se bad.

was Fury Road not hyperstylized?

Yeah fair point I guess, but I still feel like you get more knee-jerk criticism when you go stylized, whereas mediocre "realism" wins Oscars.

this movie is extraordinarily controversial in chicago right now. lots of people find it very difficult to see what this does that is positive

yeah it'll be interesting to see how this plays locally vs. nationally vs. internationally (does spike lee even have much of a profile in e.g. europe right now?)

i dont totally get why chicagoans might be so worried about this one movie. not like people dont know whats going on in the city (at least people who read broadsheets etc). and then theres guys like chief keef, etc, who have 'drawn attention' to the violence in the city. never mind that common did a whole album about it. i want to see it. spike is underrated as a great stylist. and i doubt he would be out to exploit gang violence. this might be a kind of companion piece with clockers.

"was Fury Road not hyperstylized?"

there was a lot of kneejerk hatred of that movie!!

five stars in the guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/nov/25/chi-raq-review-spike-lees-urgent-angry-and-very-sexy-midlife-masterpiece

2.5 stars in the tribune;

reader gives it a soft pan: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/spike-lee-chi-raq-rahm-emanuel-will-burns/Content?oid=20202638

i dont totally get why chicagoans might be so worried about this one movie. not like people dont know whats going on in the city (at least people who read broadsheets etc). and then theres guys like chief keef, etc, who have 'drawn attention' to the violence in the city. never mind that common did a whole album about it. i want to see it. spike is underrated as a great stylist. and i doubt he would be out to exploit gang violence. this might be a kind of companion piece with clockers.

― StillAdvance, Wednesday, November 25, 2015 6:36 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha how come a guy from outside chicago cant 'draw attention' to chicago violence when chicagoans have drawn attention to it already? how about because chicagoans have drawn attention to it already? 'drawing attention' only means something to a point, then it just becomes this frozen trope about chicago violence. in the long view, sociology has 'drawn attention' to chicago violence for a hundred years but nothing's changed in that time

so lemme get this straight - only people who are from the communities they wanna talk about have any business at all talking about at all in any way about those communities under any circumstances

hmm, d-40, hmmmm

When did I say that?

I just think the notion that Chicagoans should obsequiously appreciate spike for "drawing attention" to the problems there is facile--like StillAdvance said, chief keef did that three years ago, the question now is what he does w that and I don't think it's wrong for Chicagoans to be wary!

i guess it depends if spike is merely 'drawing attention' to it, or saying something more than 'hey theres this pretty tragic wave of violence going on in chicago right now guys', which i imagine he is, cos this doesnt look like a typical 'message'/'bad things that are happening in american inner cities!' type of movie. im sure chicagoans have a right to be wary, but there have been other films/docus on it too, like the interrupters, so its not like there havent been other screen representations of it already.

There is no way Chicago ends up liking this movie. The rest of the world will probably actually learn a lot because of it, though. I suspect if you're in Chicago it's very easy to count up various noble and probably better efforts to raise awareness, but this is a Spike Lee Joint, this is going to be seen by a shitload of people who haven't had exposure to this yet.

idk, once chief keef has addressed something you've probably reached maximum media saturation

crooklyn is such a wonderful movie. i think it must be my fave of his. this one looks pretty bad. if he did a movie called illadelph about the life of cool c and steady b i would totally go see that.

wait, you guys heard that terrible song from this movie, right?

this terrible one:

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/this-terrible-new-song-from-spike-lees-chi-raq-cant-pos-1741795557

haha wow what the oh my god that is horrendous

man if you told me a decade ago "don't worry, the idea of music will be destroyed in 2015, by a man named Kevon Carter" I would look at you like you were talking nonsense, but here we are!

There is no way Chicago ends up liking this movie. The rest of the world will probably actually learn a lot because of it, though. I suspect if you're in Chicago it's very easy to count up various noble and probably better efforts to raise awareness, but this is a Spike Lee Joint, this is going to be seen by a shitload of people who haven't had exposure to this yet.

― El Tomboto, Wednesday, November 25, 2015 7:10 PM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's not a doc tho, it's extremely fanciful...like its reaching for something more universal and just using the chiraq mythos as like a setting

And contra balls Chicago has been synonymous w "black on black crime" in the national media basically since keef blew up three years ago, moreso than other cities w/ the exact same issues

Like is there any human in the western world right now that DOESNT associate Chicago w violence ?

i don't. windy. oprah. that's about it.

and big fat pizza pies.

hot dogs with stuff

da bears

jimmy butler

i have heard tales about the infamous plastic crimewave syndicate in chicago...or "The 'Cago" as the natives call it.

from wbez in chicago it's this american life i'm ira glass each week we bring you little stories or some shit

deej is right though, before chief keef nobody had even heard of chicago and now that chief keef has weighed in there is nothing more that could be said about chicago

i went there once. ate a big fat pizza. watched barney kessel and herb ellis play two sets at rick's cafe. it was chill.