msjpacke Reviews

Jungle Fever (1991)

More about sex than race

[7/10 · 15 January 2006]

This movie is more about sex than race. Lee was quoted in the NYT as follows: "I hate this whole Hollywood process of breaking down a movie to one sentence," he said. "My films don't deal with one theme. They interweave many different things. You have to think. I'm not saying interracial relationships are impossible. Flipper and Angie are not meant to represent every interracial couple in the world. They are meant to represent two people who got together because of sexual mythology instead of love. Then they stay together because they're pushed together. They're outcasts. And since their relationship isn't based on love, when things get tough, they can't weather the storm." Thus at its core this film is a feminist critique of the nature of sexual attraction in contemporary America. These folks are wrong for each other but they both are stereotypically "attractive." There is "chemistry" between them, but no shared values that are the bedrock of a serious relationship. The "black stud"/ "sexy white girl" is just one way this could be instantiated.

In one sense, this is a serious issue and it is worth exploring. My own misgivings about this film is that Lee's moral seems to be: values = good, chemistry = bad, and this strikes me as somewhat simplistic.

The Prosecutors (1996 TV Movie)

Better than average legal drama

[8/10 · 9 December 2005]

I thought this a better than average legal drama, and while a previous review called this something like "cliché city," I thought there were some fresh twists on familiar themes.

1. Often people of color or the disabled are presented as saints or sinners in this type of film (e.g., blacks are either street thugs or have advanced degrees) and these characters exist here as well. But the brother-in-law and the disabled prosecutor struck me as good but seriously flawed individuals. Yes, this too can be a Hollywood cliché, but these characters struck me as bringing something new to the table.

2. The prosecutor who lost her husband to senseless violence is another cliché, and there were times that the sad weepy children and mom were written in a way that could have been mailed in. And the presentation of the "perfect" marriage that ends tragically was nothing new. (once again, we could develop sympathy for a widow who had a more realistic marriage.) But even when the dialog was clichéd, the actors manages to sell it.