The movie is a little to jumpy for me... Like for instance, how and when did the mother get sick? Why did it happen so suddenly? And that camera effect when the girl goes to visit her relatives for the summer, one question...why? It was just annoying. But the main actress (Zelda Harris) is very talented.
shareyou're entitled to your opinion, but since you're asking for others'...
re:the mother getting sick - 2 things:
1st- troy was away when she got sick, so we wouldn't have noticed any signs of impending illness, cos it's troy's story.
2nd- the story is from troy's perspective, and, to me, it's completely plausible that she just would not have noticed. she's a kid, and she was worrying about other stuff (getting a bra, for example).
re:the camera effect during the visit to the relatives
even for me, that household represented a very warped reality, and definitely something totally foreign to troy (at least initially). i always thought that the effect used for that sequence is reflecting something like that.
i really loved this movie, and i've watched it so many times.
i'd be interested to hear more about why you didn't like it.
i think it is a rare kind of film, very clear, simple and heartfelt,
like a kid's movie, but without the pious attitude of most kids' movies,
or movies about kids. does that make sense?
"i saved latin...what'd you ever do?"
I get the sick part, but a movie is supposed to include some type of foreshadowing. While coming back over the summer and realizing that your mother is dying can happen in real life, the fact that this was done in the movie was rushed and it completely detatched me from any type of emotion I could have felt. You get what I am trying to say? It was supposed to evoke some kind of emotion and for me and it didn't do that. And the camera trick, it turned me off. I respect film technique hell, my favorite movie is Citizen Kane. But in this movie, to see a lack of overall camera effects throughout the movie, then to throw in some weird camera effect for 20 minutes or so just looks sloppy in my opinion. I think that there was a better way to have conveyed Harris's feelings through music or something like that.
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of course the mother's illness is supposed to be a shock, but i didn't think it was a surprise. i'm a firm believer that stress is the greatest threat to human (and plant and animal) health, so i thought the foreshadowing here was adequate.
the usual parental concerns, plus not enough money, no power, etc...
as for the camera trick, it made me a tad queasy the first time i saw it, but with subsequent viewings, it's grown on me a lot. and, like i said before, i always thought the point of using that technique for that sequence was precisely to show the huge difference between troy's regular life and her perspective on the completely foreign life of her relatives. and it works for me.
but i get what you're trying to say, and i appreciate you're efforts to explain what you think to me. it looks like this one is a matter of taste though, huh?!
are you a spike lee fan at all? or did you come to "crooklyn" some other way?
"i saved latin...what'd you ever do?"
Yeah, it is just a taste thing. I do like Spike Lee when he doesn't let his camera tricks get the best of him. He has the potential to make wonderful films, i.e. Do the right thing, Get on the bus, Malcom X, Etc. But there are a few films of his that have a style that I don't really like. Inappropriate music, cuts, and strange camera effects (like Crooklyn's issue). But thanks for chatting with me...
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It's from a kid's perspective. Not many kids notice when their parents are sick or anything. Also, this film is kind ofhard to relate to if you don't know anything about 1970s Brooklyn. I was born in '85, but I am from Brooklyn, so I know about sitting on the stoop, chasing the icecream truck and playing street games.
shareThis is his best film to date. I think that there is something magical about Spike's films that is specifically for Black people. The first 7 or 8 minutes of this film are so righteous that it should make you cry. Not to make it racial because I don't want to imply that white people can't feel the intimate portrait that him and his sister and his brother have made here. But like I said Spike's a Genius!
shareactually i am white and i absolutely LOVE this movie! i cry every time i watch it. i think it is universal because it is about family and everybody has got one. also, maybe because i am a girl who grew up playing outside in a city in the late 70s early 80s i can relate to Troy.
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re:the camera effect during the visit to the relatives
even for me, that household represented a very warped reality, and definitely something totally foreign to troy (at least initially). i always thought that the effect used for that sequence is reflecting something like that
her mother got cancer from being stressed out. adurr. she was always yelling and screaming and it probably manifestted itself into a disease.
shareeach person has their own opinion. i just saw this movie for the first time in my class. the teacher was teaching us communication and how the director was trying to communicate certain things to the viewer. i saw lots of hidden messages. it speaks from one child's point of view so the suddenless of mom's illness fit's to a child's perception.
my guess on the camera effect was to impart the fact that troy felt weirded out being in such a different setting with different rules and different expectations. it was annyoying, but the point got across to me. again, it speaks from a child's point of view, not from an adult.
i really liked this movie alot.
Children should be seen, heard & believed.
The mind's like a parachute, only works when opened.
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Many things about Crooklyn really touch me in so many ways.
From the time of the opening, when the Stylistics song comes on, I tend to get misty-eyed. This is one of the few movies that I know many black people 30+ can relate in some way; the innocence of childhood. Pre-internet, pre-video games, pre-drive-bys. The sibling bickering, the tv shows, the dinnertime issues, just everything.
Alfre Woodard and Delroy Lindo are true artists, and are underrated.
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Whoever said they don't like it - obviously didnt understand it, or are resistant to genius of any sort.
- Q.E.D (quod erat demonstrandum)
I always felt she was always sick... I remember when she made the kids clean up the kitchen that morning, she mentioned "You all are going to have to start doing things around here" was a sign
shareI tell anybody that....it's not for everybody. You have to watch this and other Spike Lee Films with a very open mind and not expect the expected.
Most, if not all, of his films are reality tv in a way. No plot or premise, just the day in the life and that's what have fans like me hooked to his films. I rather have his simplicity rather than an overthoughtout movie.