Spike Lee re-entered the public eye once again just under two years ago with the bold decision to fund his next independent film by the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, and the fruits of his labor are now available for the general public to see. It’s been nearly a decade since Mr. Lee has been able to deliver a movie that was critically-approved, as his last few efforts have all been misfires for various reasons. I hadn’t seen his remake of Oldboy, a commercial flop from 2013, so I streamed it on Netflix in preparation for the film (see my thoughts at the end of the review). Unless you’re a meticulous viewer like myself, there is little to connect the two films by, other than a few signature flairs. Unfortunately, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus appears destined to join the later Spike Lee joints as another creative misfire.
Dr. Hess Green (Stephen Tyrone Williams) is a wealthy African history expert living in an isolated mansion in Martha’s Vineyard. He has but one vice: he is addicted to blood. The plot thickens when the wife of one of his associates, Ganja (Zaarah Abrahams) comes to visit, and she is brought into the bizarre and sordid world of blood addiction. Their relationship becomes the major plot point of the film.
There are a few things wrong with the film, but above all, there is a sense of pace that is completely missing from the picture. This is a slow movie, much like 2012’s Red Hook Summer, and is similarly in desperate need of a sense of forward progression and intrigue as to what is going to happen next. This is only found in a few moments, but the film suffers without a clear enough plot to drive the film forward. Even the chemistry between the two lead actors, which as you can imagine leads to romance, does not feel organic and rapidly jumps from complete strangers to timeless lovers.
For a film about blood-drinking, murder, and much more, the stakes of the film feel rather low–by the end of the first act there doesn’t appear to be anything to threaten the characters’ well being other than themselves, and it isn’t enough to maintain the movie. At a full 2 hours, this is a movie that is just too long for how empty it feels. The film is monotonous and as a viewer I lost interest quickly. Thinking to general audiences, I find it difficult to imagine any type of viewer finding enjoyment in this film. To the many who backed this film on Kickstarter (including myself), this is a huge let down.
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is available to stream on Vimeo On Demand now and in theaters today.
Oldboy (2013) (US)
Director: Spike Lee
Writer: Garon Tsuchiya, Nobuaki Minegishi (manga), Mark Protosevich (screenplay)
Stars: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson
The first thing I read about Spike Lee’s 2013 remake of Oldboy after viewing it for myself was that the studio cut the film down from a 145 minute Director’s cut to a 105-minute movie. Hence, the film opens with “A Spike Lee Film” rather than the auteur’s usual signature, “A Spike Lee Joint.” That information alone gives so much context with what isn’t working with Oldboy. The film lacks the character development and subtle build-up that is essential for any good film across all genres. All the major relationships of the film are without development or backing. For the first half of the film, this is acceptable because there is enough going on in the story to keep us entertained and intrigued. But as the film progresses and becomes more relationship-centric, it alienates the viewer.
If you’ve seen the original 2003 Korean film of the same name, then you will already know all of the major plot points of this film, which Lee does not deviate from here. Other than an obvious change of location and a few subtle differences, it is all the same story. An average man (Josh Brolin, whose character is much more of an a-hole than his Korean counterpart) is suddenly locked up for 20 years with no explanation–and then set free. He seeks revenge on his captor while searching for his missing daughter. The captor (Sharlto Copley, in an effectively weird but still underwhelming performance) challenges him with a game of asking not why he was locked up, but why he was set free.
The film does build to a twist, and it is the same as the original. In essence, there is nothing new to be gathered from watching this film over the original. The first one is more effective in all that it sets out to be: it is vile, emotional, action-packed, and has a powerful sense of style. As mentioned at the beginning, despite keeping the same story, this version can’t help but feel watered down. It’s a film very few people saw to begin with, and after viewing it myself, I can’t help but suggest checking out the original and skipping this version entirely. Both versions are available to stream on Netflix, though you only need to bother with one of them.
I am a huge fan of Spike Lee’s work prior to 2006. He was a distinct and powerful voice of independent cinema whose movies varied in quality but almost always left me with something positive. And among those many movies, a handful are absolutely phenomenal. The same cannot be said of everything since. There is very little to defend about his late filmography, and as a fan this is frustrating because I am baffled by how drastically this film along with the others have dropped off in quality.
Having now seen both the studio controlled Spike Lee film in Oldboy and the completely independent Spike Lee joint in Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, they both ended up being poor products. On both sides of the coin, there is little substance to be gleaned. I am sincerely disappointed and do not see a bright future for Spike Lee joints that match the original power of his early filmography. It appears those days are long forgotten.
Oldboy is available to stream on Netflix now.
