Chi-raq (15.)
Directed by Spike Lee.
Starring Teyonah Parris, Nick Cannon, Jennifer Hudson, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. 127 mins.
The film opens with two startling propositions. The opening titles tell us during war years, the murder rate in Chicago was higher than among soldiers in Iraq. Hence the title. Then Samuel L. Jackson pops up in a shiny suit to tell us that what we are about to see will be modern day version of Lysistrata by Aristophanes, performed in verse, just like the 411 BC original.
When a stray bullet ends the life of a young girl, the girlfriend of one of the main gang leaders, Lysistrata (Parris), comes up with a plan to force an end to violence: a sex strike. As strip club owner Dave Chappelle observes, “The situation is out of control/ I'm in front of an empty stripper pole.”
The women maintain strict discipline but the film itself is putting out all over the place. The artificiality of the concept allows Lee to bounce around and let his creativity run wild. Chi-raq bubbles over with invention but precious little focus. For about an hour I was onside with it, engaged by its passion, energy and wit, but it just goes on and on and to little discernible point so by the end it had pretty much burnt through all the goodwill it initially generated. The situations become increasingly divorced from reality and though the film keeps banging home its message about young black males needing to renounce gang culture, the film's satirical blasts are so uneven and its just keeps charging off on unnecessary tangents. By the end it has undermined its own message.
Directed by Spike Lee.
Starring Teyonah Parris, Nick Cannon, Jennifer Hudson, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. 127 mins.
The film opens with two startling propositions. The opening titles tell us during war years, the murder rate in Chicago was higher than among soldiers in Iraq. Hence the title. Then Samuel L. Jackson pops up in a shiny suit to tell us that what we are about to see will be modern day version of Lysistrata by Aristophanes, performed in verse, just like the 411 BC original.
When a stray bullet ends the life of a young girl, the girlfriend of one of the main gang leaders, Lysistrata (Parris), comes up with a plan to force an end to violence: a sex strike. As strip club owner Dave Chappelle observes, “The situation is out of control/ I'm in front of an empty stripper pole.”
The women maintain strict discipline but the film itself is putting out all over the place. The artificiality of the concept allows Lee to bounce around and let his creativity run wild. Chi-raq bubbles over with invention but precious little focus. For about an hour I was onside with it, engaged by its passion, energy and wit, but it just goes on and on and to little discernible point so by the end it had pretty much burnt through all the goodwill it initially generated. The situations become increasingly divorced from reality and though the film keeps banging home its message about young black males needing to renounce gang culture, the film's satirical blasts are so uneven and its just keeps charging off on unnecessary tangents. By the end it has undermined its own message.
