BlacKkKlansman

Based on the autobiographical novel Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth, BlacKkKlansman is the real-life story about detective Ron Stallworth who manages to infiltrate a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan with the help of a white detective as its face. Directed by Spike Lee and screenplay by Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charles Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott, the film is a look into how an African-American detective in Colorado somehow infiltrated a local chapter of the white supremacist group and eventually be a head of one of its chapters with John David Washington starring in the role of Stallworth Also starring Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Corey Hawkins, Robert John Burke, Harry Belafonte, and Alec Baldwin as Dr. Kennebrew Beaureguard. BlacKkKlansman is a rapturous and witty film from Spike Lee.

Set in 1972, the film is about the real-life story of rookie cop Ron Stallworth who becomes the first African-American officer to work for the local precinct at Colorado Springs, Colorado where he would move up to intelligence where he finds himself making contact with a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. It’s a film that play into this man who would find himself be part of the notorious white supremacist group as he and another undercover officer in Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) would both play this man wanting to join the KKK in Stallworth’s name. The film’s screenplay does take a few dramatic liberties as the real-life events took place in 1979 yet given the context of the times and the struggle for black identity in the early 1970s. The script does play into this tension that is looming with Stallworth in the middle as a man who just wants to be a good cop and protect all kinds of people.

While he would encounter some racism from a fellow cop who likes to bust other African-Americans in Colorado Springs, Stallworth knows when to not say anything as he is given an opportunity to make a difference in the local precinct. While he knows when to keep his mouth shut, Stallworth would eventually get some serious work as an undercover officer where he first attends a student rally where civil rights leader Kwame Ture (Corey Hawkins) was speaking to see if Ture is planning something that could cause trouble. Stallworth would get his first serious assignment when he answers an ad from the Ku Klux Klan where he talks in a Caucasian accent as he would fool several leaders but knows that he needs a white face to get in. Zimmerman does it despite the fact that he’s Jewish as he takes Stallworth’s name as he would meet the local chapter’s leader Walter Breachway (Ryan Eggold) as well as the psychotic Felix Kendrickson (Jasper Paakkonen). Through their frequent contacts, Stallworth would eventually get to chat on the phone with KKK’s grand wizard in David Duke (Topher Grace).

Much of the film’s second and third act has Stallworth and Zimmerman play as the former to the meetings with the latter having to attend meetings and at shooting ranges as well as the ceremony during the film’s third act. The film does have elements of humor in some of the dialogue as the script doesn’t just play into this idea of how idiotic some of the people in the KKK are but also how it parallels with events that are happening in the 21st Century including this rhetoric of making America great again. It would play into a moment in the film as its climax involves Duke’s appearance at this event but also plans to disrupt an event nearby held by Colorado College’s black student union president Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier) whom Stallworth is embarking on a relationship with.

Spike Lee’s direction is gripping for the way he plays up this idea of white power as it opens with a scene of Dr. Kennebrew Beaureguard making a scientific explanation about the dangers of racial integration while using images from films like Gone with the Wind and Birth of a Nation as examples as it would inspire these ideas of white supremacy with African-Americans, Jews, and other racial/ethnic groups as inferior. Shot on location in Ossining, New York as Colorado Springs with some exteriors shot at Colorado Springs, Colorado, the film does play into this small town that is like any other town in America but with this undercurrent of rampant racism that is emerging. Lee would use some wide shots for the locations but also create something that is also intimate with the medium shots and close-ups. Even in some striking compositions and stylistic shots in the way he play into people meeting with one another as well as some of the humor that is created in scenes that has Stallworth talking the KKK on the phone as if he wants to join.

Lee’s direction also play up into the idea of Blaxploitation as an idea of African-American identity as well as the fascination of African-American culture from a few of Stallworth’s colleagues including Zimmerman who is a big fan of Willie Mays. While the character of Dumas is someone who has legit reasons for her disdain for cops, she is forced to listen to reason from Stallworth as well as be aware that not all white cops are bad. Especially as someone like Zimmerman has to listen to anti-Semitic rhetoric from Kendrickson and take it though Zimmerman admits to not acting Jewish or practicing Judaism yet does feel the need to stand up to this idea of hate. The film’s climax is unique in the way Lee presents these two different meetings where one involves the KKK and the other meeting involving black students as there’s a great contrast to how they conduct themselves and such.

The film does have an epilogue as it relates to the KKK and how it’s managed to transform into something bigger and more dangerous where despite Stallworth’s effort to make fools out of them and reveal what they’re about. Little has changed with more now trying to stop this idea of hate and bigotry from a group of people who have nothing good to offer to the world. Overall, Lee creates an entertaining yet gripping film about an African-American police officer who would find his way into the Ku Klux Klan and discover the inner-workings of the hateful organization.

Cinematographer Chayse Irvin does excellent work with the film’s cinematography as it emphasizes on low-key colors for many of the film’s interior and exterior settings with much of the former using some stylish lights to play into the look that is similar to 1970s cinema. Editor Barry Alexander Brown does brilliant work with the editing with its usage of jump-cuts, dissolves, and some split-screen cuts to play into Stallworth’s conversation with Duke on the phone as it help create some comic effects into their conversations. Production designer Curt Beech, with set decorator Cathy T. Marshall and art director Marci Mudd, does amazing work with the look of the police building interiors as well as some of the local places including the home of Kendrickson with his collection of guns and stuff including a lie detector machine as well as the look of the hall where Duke has his ceremony. Costume designer Marci Rodgers does fantastic work with the period costumes that is set in the 70s from the stylish look of Dumas and other students as well as the more ragged look that some of the KKK members wear aside from the KKK robes.

Hair stylist Shaun Perkins, along with makeup artists Janine JP Parrella and Yasmina Smith-Tyson, does wonderful work with the hairstyles and look of the characters as it play into the world of the 1970s including the look of David Duke in the 1970s with his mustache. Visual effects supervisor Randall Balsmeyer does terrific work with the visual effects as it is appears on a few set pieces including in the montage of close-ups during Ture’s speech. Sound editor Philip Stockton does superb work with the sound as it help play into the atmosphere of some of the meetings and rallies as well as some of the intense moments at Kendrickson’s home and in the film’s climax in how the meetings are presented. The film’s music by Terence Blanchard is incredible for its usage of jazz and funk with elements of soul as it help play into the times as it also includes an orchestral piece that play into the drama while music supervisor Rochelle Claerbaut provides a soundtrack that features an array of diverse music from Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, the Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose, the Edwin Hawkins Singers, the Temptations, Looking Glass, and a traditional music piece performed by Prince.

The casting by Kim Coleman is great as it feature some notable small roles from Isiah Whitlock Jr. as an African-American official in Mr. Turrentine who works with the police to meet with Stallworth, Nicholas Turturro as a bomb maker named Walker, Frederick Weller as the racist cop Landers, Ashlie Atkinson as Kendrickson’s wife Connie who also hates African-Americans, Michael Buscemi as a cop in Jimmy Creek who helps out Stallworth and Zimmerman, Ken Garito as Sgt. Trapp whom Stallworth and Zimmerman report to as he gets a kick out of Stallworth’s conversations with Duke, and Robert John Burke as Chief Bridges as the Colorado Springs police chief who wants to ensure that Stallworth stays out of trouble as he wants to make sure things go well. The cameo appearances from Alec Baldwin and Harry Belafonte in their respective roles as Dr. Kennebrew Beaureguard and Jerome Turner are superb to play into some of the historical context in what is at stake as Baldwin’s performance is sort of played for laughs while Belafonte is more reserved in how he talks about what African-Americans endured after the Civil War with lynching being common in those days.

Ryan Eggold is terrific as Walter Breachway as the local chapter head of the KKK in Colorado Springs who would be the first to contact Stallworth unaware of his true identity as he’s a more level-headed person who wants nothing to go wrong. Paul Walter Hauser is fantastic as the dim-witted Ivanhoe as a KKK member who often says dumb things while always saying some unintentionally funny stuff. Jasper Paakkonen is excellent as Felix Kendrickson as a wildcard member of the KKK who is always suspicious of those who want to join the KKK as it’s a darkly comical performance that is full of energy and wit. Corey Hawkins is brilliant in his small role as civil rights activist Kwame Ture as a man who wants to help his community though he is aware of the police brutality that he and others are dealing with but also hoping to make some kind of change. Topher Grace is amazing as David Duke as the infamous Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who is trying to make the organization look friendlier but also has this dark idea of what he wants America to be like.

Laura Harrier is marvelous as Patrice Dumas as a student union president for Colorado College as she is trying to get people together to rally against some of the oppression other students face while starting to become less political upon meeting Stallworth as she shows a more human side. Adam Driver is incredible as Flip Zimmerman as a Jewish cop who becomes Stallworth’s face in his infiltration of the KKK where he gets a closer look to what he sees as well as be disturbed by its idea of hate. Finally, there’s John David Washington in a phenomenal breakthrough performance as Ron Stallworth as an African-American rookie cop who finds an ad from the KKK and ends up infiltrating the KKK via phone as it’s a charismatic and grounded performance where he provides some humor but also an idea of what is at stake for himself and everyone who just wants to bring good to the world.

BlacKkKlansman is a tremendous film from Spike Lee that features great performances from John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, and Topher Grace. Along with its ensemble cast, stylish visuals, compelling script, and an incredible music score and soundtrack. It’s a film that captures a moment in time when an African-American would find himself in an organization that provides hate and fear in the hope he can put a stop to them even if it’s something small despite the fact that it would escalate into something far worse. Notably as it’s a film that showcases what hate can bring and how a man is willing to put a stop to it for the good of the world. In the end, BlacKkKlansman is a magnificent film from Spike Lee.

Related: Birth of a Nation

Spike Lee Films: (She’s Gotta Have It) – (School Daze) – Doing the Right Thing - Mo' Better Blues - Jungle Fever - (Malcolm X) – Crooklyn - (Clockers) – (Girl 6) – (Get on the Bus) – 4 Little Girls - (He Got Game) – Freak - Summer of Sam - (The Original Kings of Comedy) – (Bamboozled) – (A Huey P. Newton Story) – 25th Hour - (Jim Brown: All-American) – (She Hate Me) – (Inside Man) – (When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts) – (Miracle at St. Anna) – (Kobe Doin’ Work) – (Passing Strange) – (If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise) – (Red Hook Summer) – Bad 25 - Mike Tyson: The Undisputed Truth - (Oldboy (2013 film)) – (Da Blood of Jesus) – (Chiraq) – Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall - Da 5 Bloods - (American Utopia)

© thevoid99 2018

Straight Outta Compton

Directed by F. Gary Gray and screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff and story by Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge, and Alan Wenkus, Straight Outta Compton is the story about the formation and rise of the legendary hardcore hip-hop group N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitude) who created controversy through their music as it spoke about life in the ghettos of Compton near Los Angeles, California. The film is a dramatic take on the group’s story from their early years to the death of one of their founders in Eric “Eazy-E” Wright of AIDS in 1995. Starring O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Aldis Hodge, Neil Brown Jr., and Paul Giamatti as Jerry Heller. Straight Outta Compton is a gritty yet intense film from F. Gary Gray.

In the late 1980s, N.W.A. emerged from the Los Angeles-based ghettos of Compton where they released their breakthrough album Straight Outta Compton that featured no-holds-barred lyrics on life in the ghetto, violence, racial tension, and run-ins with the LAPD whom they have a very testy relationship with. The group that featured Andre “Dr. Dre” Young (Corey Hawkins) O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) Eric “Eazy-E” Wright (Jason Mitchell), Lorenzo “MC Ren” Patterson (Aldis Hodge), and Antoine “DJ Yella” Carraby (Neil Brown Jr.) weren’t afraid to be controversial while also took criticism where they were accused of being misogynistic which wasn’t entirely true. Despite their success, the group would fall apart not just due to mismanagement but also other things that led to Ice Cube and Dr. Dre to eventually have very successful solo careers while Eazy-E would run Ruthless Records until his death in 1995 of AIDS.

The film’s screenplay does play into some dramatic liberties and does play with some of the timeline as much of the film is told in the span of an entire decade from 1986 to Dr. Dre‘s departure from Death Row Records in 1996. It does help tell the story of the group’s formation as well as what lead to them falling apart just as they were becoming very successful. Eazy-E is first seen as a crack dealer trying to survive as well as living in the ghetto where houses are often being destroyed by the LAPD while Dr. Dre and DJ Yella are part of a group known as the World Class Wreckin’ Cru where they’re frustrated by playing music they don’t like. One of Dre’s friends in Ice Cube would get a chance to rap where it would give Eazy and his friend MC Ren some ideas about forming a group and make a song that would become Boyz-n-the-Hood that led to them being discovered by music industry veteran Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) to manage them and help Eazy for the label Ruthless Records.

Heller would be the man to not only make N.W.A. successful but would also cause the seeds of its dissolution once Ice Cube begins to raise questions about money and contracts that led to his departure in late 1989 and Dre‘s own departure in 1991 with the aid of a former bodyguard in Suge Knight (R. Marcos Taylor). While the script doesn’t give members like MC Ren and DJ Yella much to do other than be supporting players as it’s more focused on Dre, Cube, and Eazy. It does also play into the diverging directions the three would endure in the course of the story as well as the controversy they had to carry in their lives. The third act isn’t just about post-N.W.A. life for the three but also the attempt to reform the group just as everyone is growing up.

F. Gary Gray’s direction does have some air of style in the way the film opens as it establishes not just life in Compton but also this world where the LAPD will do things to establish their authority regardless if anyone did anything wrong. It is an inventive opener as it play into the world of the ghettos where Gray shot the film on location in Compton as well as parts of Los Angeles and other cities in California. It’s a world that is quite chaotic but also exciting where Gray would use some wide and medium shots to play into the look of the town as well as some of the other areas in Los Angeles. Yet, Gray maintains an intimacy as it play into these characters trying to deal with the police as well as trying to survive all of the things in the world as well as touring and all of the things that come into the world of success.

The direction doesn’t shy away from the fact that it has women not just acting like groupies and be naked in pool parties as it was part of the world and success N.W.A. had encounter while there would be some female characters that are positive figures for some of the characters. Especially in the third act where Dre, Cube, and Eazy would grow up and go into different directions while they would also endure some of the controversy they encounter as it relate to their music. There is a sequence that is a recreation of 1992 L.A. riots as it play into everything that N.W.A. would foretell in their music as well as Gray plays up that sense of reality as well as some of the struggle that Dre, Cube, and Eazy would go through after N.W.A. that would lead to its attempted reunion. Overall, Gray creates an exhilarating and provocative film about the world’s most dangerous group in popular music.

Cinematographer Matthew Libatique does amazing work with the film‘s cinematography from the usage of different colored lights and schemes for many of the interior scenes at the clubs as well as some of the lighting at night while going for something very natural in the daytime exterior scenes. Editors Billy Fox and Michael Tronick do excellent work with the editing as it has some bits of style while creating some unique rhythms for the intense moments such as the opening sequence. Production designer Shane Valentino, with art director Christopher Brown and set decorators Christopher Carlson and Jeffrey Kushon, does fantastic work with the look of the homes in Compton with its steel bars in the windows as well as the mansions the guys would live in later on as well as the look of the clubs and recording studios. Costume designer Kelli Jones does nice work with the costumes from the clothes that the group wear onstage as well as what they would wear offstage as it‘s mostly casual.

Makeup designer Debra Denson does terrific work with some of the makeup as it relates to the tattoos of some of the characters such as the look of Suge Knight‘s entourage. Visual effects supervisor Bernhard Kimbacher does superb work with some of the visual effects as it‘s mainly bits of set-dressing as well as in some of the recreation of the 1992 LA riots. Sound editors Greg Hedgepath and Mark P. Stoeckinger do brilliant work with the sound to capture the way music is sound in the recording studio and in the clubs as well as the sound of gunfire and such to play into some of the darker moments in the film. The film’s music by Joseph Trapanese is wonderful for its mixture of hip-hop and ambient music to play into culture of the LA ghettos while music supervisors Angela Leus and Jojo Villanueva create a fun soundtrack that features a lot of music from N.W.A., Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Parliament-Funkadelic, Roy Ayers, and several other music in the world of hip-hop and R&B.

The casting by Victoria Thomas and Cindy Tolan is phenomenal as it features some notable small roles from Marcc Rose as Tupac Shakur (voiced by Darris Love), Keith Stansfield as Snoop Dogg, Sheldon A. Smith as Dre’s stepbrother/rapper Warren G., Keith Powers as Dre’s younger brother Tyree, Lisa Renee Pitts as Dre’s mother, Angela Elayne Gibbs and Bruce Beatty as Cube’s parents, Cleavon McLeadon as early Cube collaborator Sir Jinx, Mark Sherman as Interscope co-founder Jimmy Iovine, Elena Goode as Dre’s future wife Nicole, Tate Ellington as Priority Records executive Bryan Turner, and Corey Reynolds as World Class Wreckin’ Cru leader Alonzo Williams. Other noteworthy small roles include Marlon Yates Jr. as N.W.A. collaborator/lyricist The D.O.C., Alexandra Shipp as Cube’s future wife Kimberly Woodruff, and Carra Patterson as Eazy-E’s wife Tomica Woods-Wright who would make a major discovery about the business dealings in Ruthless.

R. Marcos Taylor is superb as Suge Knight as a former bodyguard who would co-found Death Row Records with Dr. Dre as he is this intimidating and dangerous figure that handled business in a brutal way as he would eventually alienate Dre. Paul Giamatti is fantastic as Jerry Heller as a music industry veteran who would manage N.W.A. and create Ruthless Records with Eazy as he would give the group success but also dissension once money and contracts come into play. Neil Brown Jr. is terrific as DJ Yella as the group’s DJ who would help mix and record much of the music as well as be someone who just loves the ladies. Aldis Hodge is excellent as MC Ren as an emcee who can spit rhymes while being Eazy’s loyal friend before and after N.W.A.

Corey Hawkins is amazing as Dr. Dre as the group’s DJ/emcee who is the musical talent of the group as he would create the music as he would later felt taken advantage by Heller forcing him to leave the group and form an alliance with Knight which he would later regret. Jason Mitchell is brilliant as Eazy-E as the group’s leader who would be a character of sorts for the group as well as the most outgoing as he would also be in charge of their destiny unaware of the chaos he’s causing in the group. Finally, there’s O’Shea Jackson Jr. in an incredible performance as his real-life father Ice Cube as he displays someone who has a lot of talent as a lyricist and as an emcee as he is also suspicious of Heller where he would go solo while dealing with the dark aspects of the music business.

Straight Outta Compton is a remarkable film from F. Gary Gray. Featuring a great cast, a compelling story, and a cool soundtrack, it’s a film that manages to be a fascinating bio-pic despite some of the dramatic liberties it took to tell the story of the world’s most dangerous group. In the end, Straight Outta Compton is a marvelous film from F. Gary Gray.

F. Gary Gray Films: (Friday (1995 film)) - (Set It Off) - (The Negotiator (1998 film)) - (A Man Apart) - (The Italian Job (2003 film)) - (Be Cool) - (Law Abiding Citizen) - (Fast 8)

© thevoid99 2016