FISTS UP!!: a review of "Da 5 Bloods"

"DA 5 BLOODS"

Screenplay Written by Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo and Spike Lee & Kevin Willmott
Directed by Spike Lee
**** (four stars)

RATED R

Mammoth. Absolutely mammoth.

I have expressed the following sentiments many times upon this blogsite and I am compelled to say it all over again: Writer/Producer/Director Spike Lee is one of our greatest living American filmmakers. Period. And as emphatically as he would say himself...Dats Da Truth, Ruth!!!

Dear readers, I have often been, and still remain just slack jawed and open mouthed when I regard Spike Lee's complete filmography and realize over and again how the immense quality of the work is so staggeringly, uncommonly high. No, not every film is a masterpiece and there have been quite a few of his films that have underwhelmed, or were decidedly flawed and there is even one that is downright repugnant (no need to go into that one any further) but film by film, year after year, from his narrative features, to his documentaries and filmed presentations of stage productions, Spike Lee has delivered his art from a skill and passion that is often as unparalleled as it is unquestionable and uncompromising. And believe me, when he finds himself at his most determined, and within his most fearlessly artistic sweet spot, he is untouchable. 

After a period of films that seemed to find Lee in a more wayward and seeking frame of mind, with experimental films that never quite jelled to their fullest fruition, he has since been fueling his art profoundly, while performing a certain creative re-ascension. From the audacious outrage of his searing gun violence epidemic satire "Chi-Raq" (2015), to the sprawling, spectacular two-season television re-invention of his own "She's Gotta Have It (2017-2019), the blistering and Oscar winning "BlacKKKlansman" (2018) and the sobering, sorrowful filmed stage production of "Pass Over" (2018), Spike Lee has been taking grander steps upwards and onwards and now, he has emerged with one of the best films he has ever made. 

With the arrival of "Da 5 Bloods," Spike Lee's latest "Joint," we are given an experience that is nothing less than colossal. It is a film that scales to the rarefied heights of his greatest film achievements, both "Do The Right Thing" (1989) and "Malcolm X" (1992), while again serving as a work that feels of a piece with the bulk of his oeuvre as it simultaneously blazes into uncharted territory. It is a staggering, volcanic experience. A voluminous, multi-faceted, multi-layered expression that utilizes its story, characters, social/political outlook and activism plus a creatively conceptual arsenal of film styles, history and genres to dive deeply into the core of the African-American military veteran experience.

 

Courtesy of the vibrant exploration of Black male brotherhood as human beings as well as soldiers, Lee delivers an impassioned, furious follow up to his own World War II set "Miracle At St. Anna" (2008)  as he holds up the dichotomy of Black men fighting for and holding upright the patriotism for a nation that has been systematically engineered to outright deny our humanity. It is a film that honors our veterans and history and even moreso and most powerfully, the film speaks precisely to this very minute in 2020. Without any hyperbole whatsoever, I am urgently, as just as passionately extolling to you that Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods" is essential viewing of the highest order.

Opening with an astounding mosaic of the activist voices of Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Kwame Ture and Bobby Seale, combined with the turbulent sights of the violence on American soil (Kent State, Jackson State, Democratic National Convention, instances of police brutality) alongside Vietnam war atrocities, all of which is brilliantly scored by Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)," Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods" begins in earnest in 21st century Vietnam, as we are introduced to Vietnam war veterans Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis) and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.).

The quartet has reunited and returned to Vietnam for an intensely special and impassioned mission: to collect the remains of their fallen and beloved Squadron Leader, "Stormin' Norman Holloway (Chadwick Boseman) as well as to locate millions of dollars worth of gold bars the group hid during the war, but has been previously unable to re-locate due to the shifting topography suffered from  Napalm bombings.

Their odyssey, during which the foursome are either joined by or cross paths with their tour guide Vihn (Johnny Tri Nguyen), Otis' old flame, Tien (Le Y Lan), Mr. Desroche (Jean Reno), a duplicitous French businessman, a trio of philanthropic landmine cleaners named Hedy Bouvier (Melanie Thierry), Seppo Havelin (Jasper Paakkonen) and Simon (Paul Walter Hauser), and finally, Paul's adult son David (Jonathan Majors), Da Bloods are forced to fully confront their on-going demons from their chaotic past within an even more chaotic present, which may either strengthen their decades long bond or unravel it entirely.

I cannot over-state enough about what a triumph Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods" is, as he has so skillfully and miraculously blended a variety of genres and film aesthetics to tell this one vehemently fiery, feverish story of a criminally under-represented group of people within film: the African-American soldier. 

What Lee has delivered contains certain cinematic roots within the likes of John Huston's "The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre" (1948), David Lean's "The Bridge On The River Kwai" (1957) and most certainly, Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (1979), as well as that film's inspiration, Joseph Conrad's novella Heart Of Darkness (1899) while also sharing significant conceptual bonds within Lee's own filmography, including "Get On The Bus" (1996), "He Got Game" (1998), "Inside Man" (2006), "Red Hook Summer" (2012) and the aforementioned "Miracle At St. Anna" and "BlacKKKlansman." 

To that end, "Da 5 Bloods" is simultaneously an experience that possess the heft and skill to function as a war movie, heist film, action thriller, a western, a history lesson, a primal Father/son drama, and at its deepest importance, the film is poignant psychological portrait of Black soldiers from torment and regret, to shame and horror, and hopefully, redemption to spiritual deliverance. Lee, under the leadership of his propulsive, evocative direction, accomplishes this tremendous feat from end-to-end via his beautifully conceived screenplay, written by himself and his frequent collaborator, Writer/Director and University of Kansas Film Professor Kevin Willmott, plus the booming, elegiac score from Lee film scoring veteran Composer Terence Blanchard, the stunning Cinematography from Newton Thomas Sigel, which captures the full breadth of the story through a variety of film aspect ratios (from full screen, to letterbox widescreen, to grainy 16MM), the ghostly song score which features much of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" (released May 21, 1971) and with the greatest sense of empathy, depth and soul stirring energy, the pitch perfect performances of the entire cast, especially Delroy Lindo who scales heights of which I have never, ever seen from him before.  

Even with all of the previously mentioned comparisons, if there is any film that "Da 5 Bloods" reminded me of most--or at least, the film in which it felt to share the closest company, it was with Michael Cimino's iconic "The Deer Hunter" (1978), as Spike Lee also provides the full arc in largely three sections of before, during and the aftermath of the events of their Vietnam experience and how this period shaped and altered the lives of the film's core characters--and sometimes this phenomenon occurs all in the same scene and sequences. I absolutely loved how Lee utilized his actors during the 1960's/1970's Vietnam War sections of the film at their current ages and without any de-aging CGI special effects technology. This was an absolutely brilliant technique, whether by intention or design (due to the costly nature of special effects technology), as it is illustrating, in a most harrowing factor, how the war has remained with the surviving members of the squadron through the decades and how even in their memories and nightmares, their current age reflects how intertwined the war remains within their minds and souls. 

Through this aspect, Lee also continues his deftly bewildering ability to make the events of the past so shockingly and rightfully present. Additionally, his always excellent usage of music serves as an additional character, enhancing the story and psychology of the characters (who incidentally are all named after the members of the original Temptations plus Producer Norman Whitfield). The glistening voice of Marvin Gaye functions as a spiritual and psychological extension of these characters and their experiences, ghosts of the past walking side by side with them in the present. And there is no greater ghost than of their fallen brother-in-arms, Stormin' Norman.  

As described by Otis, Stormin' Norman is an expert soldier, a rare Black Squadron Leader in a White man's military who functioned as being part Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and part Malcolm X and through Spike Lee's unapologetically militant cinematic eye, Norman is also a bit of Huey P. Newton as well as a dash of the fictional John Shaft. 

Obviously, it would have to be our very own "Black Panther" to portray such a war hero and Chadwick Boseman perfectly embodies the swagger and grit, certainly but also the psychology to understand the hypocrisy of how Black people accounted for 11% of the United States population yet over 30% were fighting on the front lines to protect the very rights we were not allowed to fully attain for ourselves due to historical, systemic racism. His plot for hiding the gold his troop found, gold designated as payment from the US to the Vietnamese for their aid in fighting the Viet Cong, is a means to provide a sense of reparations in honor of all of the sacrificed Black lives that did not ever matter to the United States Of America, whether within the military, the criminal justice system, and most personally, within the very police back in the USA patrolling Black neighborhoods as a means of maintaining the power dynamic and structure rather than protecting and serving the public. 

One especially hypnotic and multi-layered sequence--and one that is clearly an echo to the "Axis Sally" sequence in Lee's "Miracle At St. Anna"--features the captivating voice of Vietnamese propagandist radio DJ Hanoi Hannah (an excellent Veronica Ngo) whose broadcasts inform Da 5 Bloods of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and that while they are there in the Vietnam jungles, their neighborhoods back home in the USA are on fire. 

As Hanoi Hannah speaks truths of how White American wars serve to use and discard Black lives for their own purposes, Stormin' Norman is a source of inspiration and strength for the other four members of Da 5 Bloods, solely holding them together as Black men, refusing to allow either White and/or Vietnamese subterfuge as a means to manipulate rightful and righteous Black rage. Norman understands the paradox and hold the unit together for a hopeful patriotism, even when the nation they fight for is drenched in racism. And yet, it is his death during the war that sends the team into its individualistic and collective anguish, both strengthening and fracturing their bonds, haunting them for decades afterwards.

"War is about money. Money is about war." Those words, uttered by Stormin' Norman, echo through the film via the actions of the remaining Bloods as they venture back into the jungles and terrains of Vietnam with hopes of finding the gold. Whatever altruistic ambitions they once held have since been fractured as have clear divisions have been formulated between Eddie, who only wants to honor Norm's original plans, possibly for his own sense of redemption and the consumed with anger, self-pity and most PTSD afflicted Paul, who just, finally, wants what is coming to him after a lifetime of disappointments and tragedies. 

And it is here where I have to turn my fullest attention to the performance of Delroy Lindo. 

Now...I have to digress for a moment as I feel the need to describe to you a moment I once saw on an episode of "Inside The Actor's Studio" on which Martin Sheen appeared a guest. During a discussion about "Apocalypse Now," Sheen informed host James Lipton (R.I.P.) and the audience that an early scene in the film where his character was experiencing a mental breakdown, was in fact a sequence during which he was not acting but was in the state of being as he himself was then an alcoholic and underwent a very real mental breakdown (which then preceded his heart attack later in the shoot). Sheen allowed Francis Ford Coppola to just film and film, and what was attained--from Sheen breaking a mirror with his bare hands, leaving his fist bloody to writhing around the hotel room floor set, naked and howling in what is clearly existential pain--was a real as life capture of a soul in crisis.

I bring up that story to speak of the performance delivered by Delroy Lindo, for he, as Paul, takes us to Hell and even deeper with an existential roar that is shattering to witness. This is not to suggest that Lindo was not acting, per se. But, for all of his excellent work in his history, especially within Spike Lee's "Malcolm X," "Crooklyn" (1994) and "Clockers" (1995), Delroy Lindo presents himself in a state of being that I was fully unprepared to see from him. This is a performance to behold. This is a performance for the ages. 

As Paul, Delroy Lindo gives to us a portrait of a powerful, hulking Black man so desperately lost. A man lost in rage and sorrow, furious at the world and demons both real and imagined plus enduring the loss of Norm during the war, and the ensuing bottomless grief, has clearly affected him the most as Norm was his anchor as well as his most trusted friend. Shockingly, Paul has emerged in 2020 as a MAGA hat wearing Trump voter and supporter, adorning the red baseball cap throughout the film (itself a metaphor), while his feral paranoia in 21st century Vietnam grows and spreads, as witnessed in a stellar sequence when he experiences a panic attack in a Vietnamese floating market. As the film continues onwards, with the brotherhood of Da Bloods continuously tested, Paul, the self-described "broken" man descends further into despair and fury filled madness. In short, he is the Da Bloods' Colonel Kurtz.

In addition to the mounting tension between himself and the more even keeled Otis (who due to his nature is the team's medic and therefore, its healer), as well as his PTSD concerning his mourning over Norman, the primary conflict for Paul lies within his brutally painful relationship with his son David, which wavers rapidly between protection and outright rejection, and is entirely abusive.     

Through the film and as Paul descends, Delroy Lindo, by contrast, ascends. By the film's final third, Lindo unleashes not one, not two but three devastating monologues that will blind you with their determination and unstoppable force and fragility. We see the history of Paul in Delroy Lindo, where we are able to mentally fill in the blanks as to the character's life trajectory, where we can understand how he may have journeyed from A to B. How he could remain racially conscious and have become a Trump supporter. How he could hold a maelstrom of emotions towards his son. Everything exists upon Delroy Linod's face, eyes, imposing frame and also, his voice, which he stretches and contorts in ways to reveal Paul's suffering. I have no idea of where he unearthed this from but Delroy Lindo OWNS the role in a way where I can imagine that even Spike Lee himself would have been downright amazed at  his good fortune to have cast him.

And even then, Spike Lee continues to fill his film in an grandly, epic style as his fair mindedness allows his main characters to be multi-layered and to also allow time for the Vietnamese characters to express themselves and share their sense of history with the war. On an aesthetic level, Lee more than proves himself with his adeptness and agility with action sequences with are all harrowing, filled with shocks and rightfully graphic, even grisly yet not gratuitous violence. And even then, Lee assures us that "Da 5 Bloods" contains humor, that it contains romance, that it contains sheer joy as the narrative stops completely just to have us observe and embrace Da Bloods in a rare moment of euphoric camaraderie as they dance their way through a Vietnamese nightclub to Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up Part 1."  It is a film so complete as to be overflowing and the result is rewarding to the highest order.

Since the film's release upon Netflix, I have had the inspiration and opportunity to watch this film three times in full, each time knocking me backwards in its power. I have no idea of what any sort of awards season is going to even look like but Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods" deserves any and all honors that should be flying in its direction. By this point, you are certain to realize that this film is going to be exceedingly tough to top as my favorite film of 2020. 

But, what you may not know, yet I am mere words away from sharing with you is that when the time comes to compile my Time Capsule series commemorating the best films of the decade between 2020-2029, Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods" has firmly earned its place upon that compilation. 

I'M SORRY: a review of "The King Of Staten Island"

"THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND"

Screenplay Written by Judd Apatow & Pete Davidson & Dave Sirus

Directed by Judd Apatow
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
RATED R

I am not sure of what it is that makes Pete Davidson so endearing but his appeal is unquestionable.

On "Saturday Night Live," where he is a regular cast member, he is barely featured, only showing up sporadically and clearly devoid of the wide performance range of his fellow cast members, always portraying variations of his stoner persona or just essentially appearing as himself. And yet, when he does appear, the screen lights up and I know that for myself, I am more than ready to see and hear what he will do and say, especially during his appearances within the "Weekend Update" segments, where he is clearly performing mini-stand up routines. He is indeed a magnetic presence armed with a wicked sense of humor.

But, I also feel that his appeal arrives through personal traumas which have often played out publicly and even so, what is it that does not make us dismiss him as yet one more media whore who is living life creating controversies to be played out across our screens? As I regard him, maybe it does have to do with his sallow skin tone, the sunken dark circled eyes, scrawny, underfed frame all contributing to a demeanor that suggests a little boy, now young man, still so lost. Maybe, despite his fame and success as a comedian, we are all feeling protective as we have already seen the tragedies within the comic world and we just do not wish to lose one more, one who does seem to be so fragile.  

Our perceptions of and emotions towards Pete Davidson serve him extremely well within Judd Apatow's "The King Of Staten Island," a semi-autobiographical story, which not only allows us a window into Davidson's life as well as allows him to showcase his talents in a more expansive fashion. Furthermore, the film has afforded Apatow the opportunity to delve even deeper into more dramatic territories, and the result is his most soulful film since the sprawling, darkly bittersweet "Funny People" (2009).

"The King Of Staten Island" stars Pete Davidson as Scott Carlin, a 24 year old layabout and budding tattoo artist, who lives with his Mother, Margie Carlin (Marisa Tomei) in the titular borough of New York City. Scott spends his days and nights in a drug induced stupor and stasis, as he essentially exists in a sexual relationship with longtime girlfriend Kelsey (Bel Powley), harbors visions of creating his dream hybrid tattoo/restaurant business yet is involved with petty drug dealings with his friends, and through it all, just barely battles his demons, which are realized in the forms of his ADD,  his depression and his on-going grief over the loss of his Father, a firefighter, when he was just 7 years old.

As his loving yet rightfully worried and embittered younger sister Claire (Maude Apatow) graduates from high school and leaves the nest for college, her departure provides the catalyst for a series of life changes within Scott's inner circle, most notably, the arrival of Ray Bishop (Bill Burr), the first love interest for Margie since the death of her husband...and, who is also a firefighter--an event that forces Scott to face his grief and possibly, finally begin to take his first crucial steps into a greater adulthood.

Judd Apatow's "The King Of Staten Island" is a sublimely structured and executed slice-of-life drama that simultaneously charts out new territory for the filmmaker while staying within familiar themes. For Apatow, arrested development is the constant theme as it has provided the framework for every single one of his directorial efforts, and even some of his productions as well. And yet, despite the familiarity of the theme, Apatow has possessed this uncanny ability to explore the concept from new angles, always providing perspectives that are fresh and potent. 

With "The King Of Staten Island," the trajectory follows a certain formula but the way this conceptual road is traveled feels anew completely through the strong writing, the characters and the overall presentation which sharply dials the comedic aspects considerably downwards to create a canvas that feels appropriately raw, gritty and as real as life is actually lived. Simply stated, we are worlds away from "The 40 Year Old Virgin" (2005) and are firmly planted into harsher, darker territory and the overall results has afforded Apatow a wonderful opportunity to flex his directorial muscles, which now showcases a larger sense of poignancy and philosophical depth.   

Even the overall cinematic aesthetic of this film feels completely different from all of Judd Apatow's past efforts as the standard sunshine drenched California landscapes of much of his work have been given over to a more muted, grayer tonality courtesy of the urban Staten Island locales as filmed by legendary Cinematographer Robert Elswit. 

Yet, what struck me the most was Apatow's fearlessness with allowing the film to function and feel more like a subdued independent film and considerably less than a splashy Hollywood feature. It is a production that is exceedingly relaxed as Apatow allows the events to unfold naturally (a courtship scene between Margie and Roy is one of the finest, loveliest sequences Apatow has ever directed), the plot never feels as if it is in a hurry or overstuffed with material. He brings us into the life of Scott Carlin and allows it to unfold with ease, its inherent tension and trauma arriving unforced. He never gets in the way of the material by provoking, therefore, not even one moment feels inauthentic. All of this being said, I do not wish to impress that "The King Of Staten Island" contains no humor whatsoever.  Yes, there are comedic elements and stinging one-liners. But, this film is not a comedic escapade. It serves as more of a confessional.

Pete Davidson proves himself as being the real deal as his performance as co-writer and leading actor is a triumph. As previously stated, "The King Of Staten Island" is a semi-autobiographical film as Pete  Davidson's real life Father was a firefighter, who incidentally was killed during the September 11th attacks in 2001 when Davidson was just 8 years old. In interviews leading up to this film, Davidson has expressed that this film is essentially what he imagines his life would have been like if he had not discovered his potential as a comedian...yet, all of his real world neuroses have been eloquently included into the film's narrative.     

As Scott Carlin, we are dealing with another Judd Apatow character stricken with arrested development but this time it is infused with a crippling grief that has not only stunted his emotional growth but has fueled his sense of self-loathing, self-laceration, and overall manipulative tendencies which threaten to destroy every positive relationship he has. Even further, Scott's sense of self-destruction is seen through his death obsessed gallows humor and very real suicide attempts and death wishes, one of which bracingly opens the film. 

To that end, his self-awareness is as startling as his openness about his emotions, which are also utilized as a shield from allowing himself to wrestle with the deeper emotions of his existential pain. Scott is indeed a lost soul shouldered with the damage goods of weighty emotional and psychological baggage and his behavior consistently is a constant source of torment for those who love him. In many ways, Scott borders on the abusive as he dares those closest to him to leave him due to his behaviors, yet is also forever apologetic, always genuinely and manipulatively expressing the words "I'm sorry."  As I watched, I found Scott Carlin to essentially exist as a hybrid of the persona as presented in Kanye West's song "Runaway" and the late John Singleton's "Baby Boy" (2001).

Scott's life in his Mother's home essentially functions as another womb, and the film itself is his gestation into his potential rebirth with every character's life events, which advances them forwards. His sister's departure for college, Margie's new relationship with Roy and even Kelsey's wishes to take a  Civil Service exam to eventually become a city planner all terrify him as they each force him further into leaving home to claim a new life on his own, and often results in terrible behaviors, childish tantrums, and selfishly cruel outbursts designed to inflict pain upon others yet only hurts himself.

While Scott's redemption is evident, I deeply appreciated Apatow and Davisdon's willingness to make Scott Carlin as potentially unlikable yet as understandable as possible and believe me, there are points when even you may wish to throw the character to the curb. But, it is entirely within Pete Davidson's very skilled, charismatic, and multi-layered performance that he keeps bringing us back to stick with him a little longer--just as the characters also perform with Scott--because at heart, we know we are dealing with a good man trapped in a cycle of pain and loss.    

The film's final third, largely set at a firehouse between Scott, Roy and the team of firefighters (including a terrific Steve Buscemi--who himself was once a firefighter), also and beautifully sidestepped any cliches by delivering itself as if we were watching very real people behaving within a very real world, allowing the film's canvas to broaden and deepen, into a conclusion that does not present itself as a crescendo but as a grace note, one that felt to be pitch perfect. 

Judd Apatow's "The King Of Staten Island" is a success in all aspects. Wise, tender, gracious, and empathetic, it is a film that contains no contrivances and even no villains. Just a collective of individuals all trying, stumbling, failing and trying again to just get it right, for themselves and the people they love. 

Maybe these are the reasons why we have connected so strongly with Pete Davidson. 

SAVAGE CINEMA'S COMING ATTRACTIONS FOR JUNE 2020

And the theaters are still closed...

Frankly, as none of us have any real idea as to when it will be safe enough for us to venture out to a movie theater without worry of potentially contracting COVID-19, the continuing story that is Savage Cinema will remain home bound but this month does have several items that will be brand new viewing, two of them being 2020 releases.

1. "THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND"
The latest film from Writer/Director Judd Apatow will arrive this month via the On Demand service on the date it was originally scheduled to have its theaterical release. Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson stars and co-wrote this semi-autobiographical comedy-drama, and as an Apatow fan, you know that I am already there. 

2. "DA 5 BLOODS"

Oh yes!!!!!  How I have been waiting for this one. Premiering this month on Netflix, is the latest Spike Lee Joint, a film about five African-American Viet Nam war veterans. The trailer looks spectacular and regardless, nothing could keep me away from it.

3. "ROGER WATERS: US + THEM"

Waters' latest concert film extravaganza arrives on a streaming service after a 2019 one night only theatrical release, and of course, there is no way I would miss this one either.

So, with those three films, plus continuing with the Time Capsule series as I have two more sections to unveil, I have more than enough to keep me busy. Please keep me in your thoughts for good health and safety and I will do the same for you. 

And as always, I'll see you when the house light go down!!!!!!!!!!!