Since we’re on the SAM theme of late…watched this movie recently, Summer of Sam. A recommendation from my workmate. How it drifted so far under the radar I’m not sure, cause it was a pretty cool period piece and a great window into largely unknown communities (this from one who grew up in suburban Philly). And somehow unusual for Spike Lee, perhaps in that it was more about the inflammatory and frightened spirit of the big apple in the summer of ‘77 and what that brought out in a specific community (racism, homophobia, violence).
Adrian Brody plays a punk rocker escaped from his tight, Italian Bronx community. He dances (and provides extras) at a gay club in Manhattan for money, but hangs on tight to who he is, what he believes, even as his homeboys rant that he’s a freak for the way he dresses and wears his hair. Eventually, even his best friend, Luigi (shown below) rats him out, but it’s all part of Luigi’s own demise which goes down in beak-fulls of blow and adultery with total strangers.
