Summer of Sam

Plot

In an unprecedented heatwave in NYC, a serial killer is going around killing couples in cars. Meanwhile the lives of a group of friends in The Bronx live their lives.

Direction

This was a big up for me. Lee has obvious skill behind the camera, and there were several moments where he did some incredible takes. Early in the film, a single take follows a car from a crane up, to follow characters walking into a building. 

Cast/Characters

The four main cast consist of John Leguizamo, Mira Sorvino (who play married couple Vinnie and Dionna) and Adrien Brody and Jennifer Esposito (who play new romance Ritchie and Ruby). ‘Son of Sam’ is an almost tertiary character who appears sporadically.

The problem here is none of them are at all likeable. Vinnie is continuously cheating on his wife, Dionna feels like an almost mirror image to Sorvino’s Beautiful Girls character. Brody’s grunge loving, faux British accent talking Ritchie is also a poor partner. The closest to an even likeable or empathetic character is Ruby.

Screenplay/Setting/Themes

The setting of 1970 The Bronx feels believable enough, but the overly ‘Italian American’ characters don’t feel organic. Perhaps this is due to Lee’s own heritage that he was not able to write the culture correctly, but I found this to be egregious.

However this could also be due to my own culture (neither American, Italian or was alive in the 1970s).

The ‘Son of Sam’ storyline is also a background story, and could have almost been absent from the screenplay and it still would have had the same end result (bar a few moments of conversation between characters) was a bit of a let down.

Score/Soundtrack

The score, primarily during some intense moments during the film, such as the riots and the blackout was exceptional. Terence Blanchard is a frequent collaborator with Lee.

Overall

I tried hard to like this film, but without some solid direction from Lee, and an amazing score, I found there to be to many flaws for my liking. At 140m it was at least half an hour to ¾ of an hour too long.

2/5