Review of Summer of Sam (1999) by Ahmed A — 30 Apr 2014

Written and directed by Spike Lee, who went to make a very personal film, but unlike his recent films of the times like Girl 6 (1996), Get on the Bus (1996) and He Got Game (1998), it didn't have African-Americans at it's centre, it had Italian-Americans in the Bronx, it was the summer where this was set that Lee decided to become a filmmaker, so it had a personal touch and it's a good film as well.

In the summer of 1977, New York City has been gripped by the fear of a serial killer known as Son of Sam, who has targeted people making out in parked cars. A group of friends in the Bronx, Vinny (John Leguizamo) and his wife Dionna (Mira Sorvino) and his half-sister Ruby (Jennifer Esposito), Richie (Adrien Brody) and Joey (Michael Rispoli) are plagued by fear and distrust, as they soon begin to suspect one another as to who the Son of Sam really is.

Meanwhile, Detective Petrocelli (Anthony LaPaglia) of the New York Police Department turns to notorious local mobster Luigi (Ben Gazzara) to help find out who the Son of Sam killer really is. It's a good thriller, and it owes a debt of gratitude in a way to the films of Martin Scorsese, and it has the seediness and darkness of William Friedkin's Cruising (1980).

It shows Lee crafting a good character piece, and the seeds of distrust being placed amongst them all, it's dark and moody but it captures the era well.