Tell me a story

It’s summer vacation for thirteen-year-old Silas Royale (played by Jules Brown), or Flik as he likes to be called, and instead of spending it at his house with his friends in Atlanta, he gets dumped by his mother at his grandfather’s two bedroom apartment in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. We’re never told why his mother wants him to spend the summer there—perhaps she just wants a break from him—but we know that while Flik hates the idea, his grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse, loves it. See, this is the first time that the two of them have met, and what feels like a punishment to one is actually a blessing to the other.

Enoch (played by Clarke Peters) is a bishop at a small local church, and from the moment Flik arrives it’s his goal to involve the boy in the church life. To that effect he forces Flik to spend his days working at the church. He also has to attend the sermon every Sunday. It doesn’t matter that Flik is at best an agnostic. Enoch knows what’s best for him.  But Flik is a young man, and he’s starting to have his own ideas about the directions his life should take. He’s at that age when you begin to question everything, when you start to look at the world around you, trying to understand it and how you fit in it. He carries his iPad II with him everywhere, recording as much of his new neighborhood and its people as he can. It’s never explained why he does that, but you get the sense that it’s his way of trying to make sense of the world. I can imagine him sitting down every night and reviewing the things he’s captured so he can give them a second thought. I wouldn’t be surprised if director Spike Lee spent his teen years much the same way, documenting the world around him using whatever was the closest equivalent to an iPad II at the time.

But Flik has something even better than his iPad to help him weather his youth: a friend. Her name is Chazz (played by Toni Lysaith). Her mother is a member of Enoch’s congregation and is worried about the direction in which Chazz is headed, so she makes her work at the church too. Flik and Chazz become friends much the way you’d expect a young boy and a young girl to become friends: he purposely annoys her and she tells him how annoying he is. But eventually they realize they have more in common. They’re both struggling to figure out what they want for themselves and how it compares to what their parents want for them.

At its heart, this movie is Flik’s coming of age story, yet when I think back to it what I remember most, or rather who I remember the most is Flik’s grandfather. Clarke Peters easily delivers the strongest performance in the film thereby making his character the most interesting one. He’s as charismatic as he is dogmatic. There are about three sermons in this movie, and in each of them Clarke preaches so passionately and so believably, that you’d think Spike hired a bona fide preacher to play the part. And even though the church scenes go on a little too long, Clarke keeps them from becoming boring or repetitive. His character starts out being somewhat single-minded: he’s just a man trying to save his community through the church.  But then his past comes back to haunt him, and it makes his character exponentially more complex, so much so that watching the movie a second time will be more interesting because you now get to experience his character in a completely different light.

Beyond his own character, what helps Clarke steal the movie is that the performances from the child actors are not very strong. Toni Lysaith’s performance is particularly troublesome, as her delivery is often wooden and false. It’s clear she’s doing her best, but the script does not work in her favor. She’s forced to deliver lines and give speeches that sound unnatural coming from her. I don’t understand why her lines weren’t rewritten to match her abilities or why a different actress wasn’t chosen. Jules Brown was better in his role, though there were also moments where he struggled, which were usually the scenes between him and Toni. Still, I hope these kids continue to get roles and refine their skills because they definitely have talent.

Overall the movie feels a little rough. It’s not just the acting. It’s that Red Hook attempts to cover a ton of ideas, which makes it feel kind of sloppy when you look at the film as a whole. I didn’t have any troubles following the story as it went along, but thinking about it afterwards, I wasn’t quite sure what it was about or what it was trying to say. It touches upon the struggle of raising kids in this day and age when there seem to be more temptations from the path to success than ever. It talks about religion and the positive role it can play as well the negatives that can go along with it. It delves into a child’s desire versus his or her parents’ desires. It explores the children that fall off the “right” path. It deals with the importance of community and how you can discover yourself through it. It deals with the idea of running from your past. In short, (but not really) it deals with a slew of issues, which is why it’s hard to easily discuss, especially since I don’t think it covers all these ideas well. For instance I’m not sure the topic of religion is explored thoroughly enough; the bishop’s view of the church overpowers Flik’s who hasn’t really had a chance to explore religion. He’s still stuck on why, if there’s a God, does He let bad things happen. I think it would have been more interesting to explore the idea of being a part of the community in ways other than the church.

I haven’t seen many Spike Lee films as an adult, but from what I’ve read it’s not uncommon for him to tackle so much in his movies. I’d love to take some time out just to watch several of his films with my current adult mind. I have a feeling it’ll give me a better understanding of and appreciation for what he’s done in this one. For now I’m just thankful he gave me a movie that I enjoyed watching and that gave me a few things to think about. Plus the soundtrack was pretty good.

Red Hook Summer
Director: Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Inside Man, Miracle at St. Anna)
Writers: Spike Lee (School Daze, Mo’ Better Blues, Summer of Sam) and James McBride (Miracle at St. Anna)