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Summer of Sam

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

It didn't get any hotter than the summer of 1977 in New York city.

As temperatures soared well into the 40s for endless days, the city was seared by its own heat, sweat and energy. With the unrelenting swelter, things started to change in the city and it made everybody a little tense and crazy. Looters poured into the streets as a blackout plunged New York into darkness and fear; a mysterious psychopath began gunning down strangers in the night at random. Dubbed Son of Sam by the tabloids that luridly reported his killing spree, the .44 calibre killer terrorised the city with a steady streak of grisly slayings. With the media playing an integral role in fuelling the fear and paranoia, the whole city became a hotbed of suspicion and panic, captivating not only New York, but also the entire world.

With trademark virtuosity, filmmaker Spike Lee goes into the throbbing heart of the Bronx during this unbelievable summer to paint a portrait that is both intimate and panoramic. John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino and Jennifer Esposito lead an ensemble cast in Summer of Sam, which chronicles how Son of Sam's plague of terror disintegrated a neighbourhood, turned friends against each other and transformed trust into dread.

The summer of 1977 turned into the Summer of Sam.

Directed by Spike Lee, from a screenplay written by Victor Colicchio, Michael Imperioli and Spike Lee.

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Hmmm.

Summer of Sam is a long film set in New York (a small town somewhere in the southeast of Canada, I believe) and filled with all those delicious weirdoes that only seem to exist in that place. As it's also set in the 70s, there are more square metres of polyester than a stocktake clearance at Polly's Polyester Warehouse.

*Shudders*

The acting is superb, especially from John Leguizamo. His sex-addicted, Catholic-guilt-ridden, married, adulterous, drug-taking, smoking, swearing, messed-up Spic is out of control. Cool. Adrien Brody's sexually-confused, swinging, punk, radical, liberated, drug-taking, smoking, swearing, messed-up, Brit wannabe Spic is more subtle, but equally as out of it. The story is as intense as you'd expect from two such characters stuck in a heat wave, brain blasted by a serial killer and directed by Spike Lee. The film gets a little indulgent every now and then, but if you can reach the end it won't really matter.

If you like seeing films that make you feel like going on a killing spree when you leave the house, then Summer of Sam is gonna be heaven on earth. I certainly enjoy the thought of defending your right to bear arms.

PS: There's a really cool effect where the satanic dog from next door walks into the killer's room and tells him to "Go out and kill them, kill them all." It's the last thing you expect from a heavily realist film like this. Although, now that I have told you about it, it's the first thing you're going to expect!