Speaker 1: Warning. Today's episode contained spoilers for Spike Lee's newest feature film,
Speaker 1: Highest Lowest. Hello, my name is Jas Cacio and I'm
Speaker 1: Rosie Night and welcome back to x ray vision of
Speaker 1: the podcast Will We Dive Be to your favorite shows, movies,
Speaker 1: comics of pop culture Company Roma our podcast where we're
Speaker 1: bringing you three episodes a week.
Speaker 2: In today's final episode of The Popcorn pop Out, we
Speaker 2: are reviewing the latest from legendary director Spike Lee and
Speaker 2: his ode to the iconic director and his friend Charactersaur.
Speaker 2: We attended the premiere. We will be updating you on that.
Speaker 2: Me and Jason were bemused and baffled and delighted because
Speaker 2: we were definitely we were like, how did we get
Speaker 2: invited here? It was great, We had a great time.
Speaker 2: Then we're going to review the movie, which spoilerlat if
Speaker 2: you follow us on that box, do you know we
Speaker 2: both enjoyed haughtily. And then you had Rosie explains it
Speaker 2: all UK edition. Well, now Jason's going to explain it
Speaker 2: well New York edition and talk about what these movies
Speaker 2: mean as a New Yorker.
Speaker 1: But first the airlock. Okay, so we went to last week,
Speaker 1: we went to the was it a premier or was
Speaker 1: it LA premiere? Okay, So we went to the LA
Speaker 1: premiere of Spike Lee's latest film, Highest lowist and adaptation
Speaker 1: of the Akira Kurosawa masterpiece High and Low, his fifth
Speaker 1: collaboration with Denzel Washington. We saw it at the Academy Museum,
Speaker 1: and we just wanted to bring you into that because
Speaker 1: it was definitely one of those situations where you're like,
Speaker 1: why not only why are we here? Which is fine,
Speaker 1: we've been just.
Speaker 2: You know, we love to Yeah, we love to be.
Speaker 1: Why am I? Why are we three rows from the front?
Speaker 2: Yes, that was the funniest thing is vigate Fox. I know,
Speaker 2: we were truly living life. We saw one of the
Speaker 2: new lanisters from House to the Dragon. Was lovely to
Speaker 2: see him as always.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's yeah, let's name drop for a little bit.
Speaker 1: Henson was was there?
Speaker 2: One of my favorite things Jaden Smith. Jaden Smith was there.
Speaker 2: He wearing an impressive kind of hat. Accoutremond also scarf hat.
Speaker 2: It was a scarf hat. I was very very impressed
Speaker 2: he it was. It was wrapping maybe made of leather, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like a priest from a different planet.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Alien three priests. Look, maybe I feel like
Speaker 2: it was vibing on. Also, we saw some incredible creators
Speaker 2: and innovators in this space. There were all kinds of
Speaker 2: cool people there. I'm trying to think of some of
Speaker 2: the most one of the ones that and he was
Speaker 2: wearing his beautiful high and low Cus Hour shirt that
Speaker 2: he's been rocking on this press tour. Also as well,
Speaker 2: just casually, like when we were leaving, because we're we're
Speaker 2: not big partiers. Were we're homebodies. But when we were leaving,
Speaker 2: as we were walking out, somebody was like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: it there a ravo and just like screaming. So yeah,
Speaker 2: there was, and there was autograph hunters outside. It was
Speaker 2: definitely it was a real It was one of those
Speaker 2: type of things. Yeah, And I think it was something
Speaker 2: where people were just really excited to be at the
Speaker 2: screening of such a legendary directors movie. Yes, like so
Speaker 2: many people showed up and were just ready.
Speaker 1: It opened with This is in collaboration with A twenty
Speaker 1: four and Apple Studios, So I think it's a Apple
Speaker 1: TV Apple production with dishoub and production handled by H
Speaker 1: four and one of the executives from A twenty four
Speaker 1: came up and made a speech, and immediately you and
Speaker 1: I are.
Speaker 2: Like, why is this guy is the hunkiest?
Speaker 1: Why who is this Why? Why is the hottest guy
Speaker 1: in the room the exec from eight twenty five?
Speaker 2: Is he not in this movie? Like he had such
Speaker 2: great presence. We were just both like, Wow, I love
Speaker 2: this guy, and I think came up.
Speaker 1: He gave a little a shpiel about like what an
Speaker 1: honor it is to, you know, be working with Spike
Speaker 1: Lee and for a twenty four to be collaborating with Spike,
Speaker 1: the fifth collaboration of Spike and Densel Cell and the
Speaker 1: history of that, and then he had and then he
Speaker 1: introduces Spike Spike Lee. Spike comes in from the side door,
Speaker 1: takes the mic strides like a couple of steps like
Speaker 1: he's he's going to go to the front of the
Speaker 1: theater to make speech, and he just goes, you're ready, okay,
Speaker 1: and then he just turns around and watchs out you
Speaker 1: start the movie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Because also you could tell there was a lot
Speaker 2: of celebrities there because the movie started like half an
Speaker 2: hour late, like they were really trying to see people
Speaker 2: and we were in the ted Man Theater, which I
Speaker 2: do love which is the smaller of the two Academy
Speaker 2: Museum theaters, but not a theater made for like premieres.
Speaker 2: There's not a lot of walking up and down that
Speaker 2: you can do. Everyone was getting up every time somebody
Speaker 2: needed to sit down, so we were all kind of
Speaker 2: bonding over the close quarters. But yeah, what a what
Speaker 2: a surreal event. We were definitely right at the front.
Speaker 2: But you know what, Jason, as I said to you
Speaker 2: on the night, you are the second most famous Knicks
Speaker 2: fan after Spike Lee. So I think that they were like,
Speaker 2: I think is up there. I think.
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna have to go down the rungs
Speaker 1: because I think currently it's obviously Spike Yeah, and then
Speaker 1: a Chalo May He's Chalo May, Slash and Stiller. I
Speaker 1: think it depends on what your kind of interests in
Speaker 1: age group are. But I think those two were battling
Speaker 1: for two. Then I think you would go Eadie Falco.
Speaker 1: I think John McEnroe is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're above Mcam. I think you I
Speaker 2: think that's the safe top five. But they were like,
Speaker 2: we got to have him near the front. They didn't
Speaker 2: put us right on the front row.
Speaker 1: It was pretty crazy. I mean Fox was.
Speaker 3: One row and to the right of us, So that
Speaker 3: was you You love to see it, and you know
Speaker 3: that was crazy Paula Patton looking.
Speaker 1: In front, and I hopefully she hasn't heard us smirch
Speaker 1: her French accents from possible.
Speaker 4: Oh no, she knows physical.
Speaker 2: This was all actually like a set up for how
Speaker 2: to revenge on us because friend Jackson. But yeah, it
Speaker 2: was a It was a truly unique and cool experience
Speaker 2: and and and we were really stoked to be in
Speaker 2: by it, especially as such big.
Speaker 1: In a non spoiler way, let's give our top line thoughts.
Speaker 1: We'll go to break and then we'll come back and
Speaker 1: we'll talk about maybe in a spoiler fashion. I love
Speaker 1: this film with the caveat that as a New York guy,
Speaker 1: as a Knicks fan, there's so much red meat in here,
Speaker 1: just on the Knicks front, that I'm already gonna be
Speaker 1: heavily inclined to like this movie. I'm a Spike listen,
Speaker 1: I'm a Spike guy. But I loved it, and I
Speaker 1: thought there are a few scenes, namely the kind of
Speaker 1: the showdown between the tagonist and the antagonist, that I
Speaker 1: think are are amazing, like incredible that some of his best. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's the moment when David King, the kind of beleaguered
Speaker 1: UH music executive, comes face to face with young Felon
Speaker 1: played by Aesop Rocky, the man who is kidnapped, who
Speaker 1: thought he kidnapped his son and has been holding him
Speaker 1: for ransom, and they have this incredible like duel of
Speaker 1: words that goes for like five minutes, and it's I've
Speaker 1: just been thinking about it because it's like, it's amazing
Speaker 1: and it's not it's very theater, like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: not like something you would see in a movie these days,
Speaker 1: and there's moments like that that that may stand out
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 2: I think for me that's why I came away just
Speaker 2: really loving it because I think, while you'll write that
Speaker 2: five minute segment is like it's like having Shakespeare on
Speaker 2: the screen, but in a way that you know, if
Speaker 2: you said, oh, it's like rap Shakespeare, people would be like,
Speaker 2: that's terrible, But it's not like that. It's like this
Speaker 2: Shakespearean battle of words in the universe of this work
Speaker 2: that works so well. But yeah, for me, this is
Speaker 2: like weird big swing Spike where there are like multiple
Speaker 2: different movies within this movie. There are different tone. There's
Speaker 2: a kind of like lifetimey family drama. There's this Empire influence,
Speaker 2: like I'm sorry Taraji being there. I'm like they knew
Speaker 2: that Empire was an influence on this, like it was
Speaker 2: and Anna, And there's this kind of soapy element to it.
Speaker 2: But there are these moments right where Denzel and Jeffrey
Speaker 2: Wright are just vibing with each other, and there's this
Speaker 2: kind of like jazzy French new wave freeness and fun
Speaker 2: to this movie that just feels like nothing we get anymore.
Speaker 2: You're it is like watching a student of cinema show
Speaker 2: off all the stuff he's learned about cinema in a
Speaker 2: really lovely way. And I think that makes sense because
Speaker 2: Kurisauer and Spike Lee they actually crossed paths early on
Speaker 2: in Spike's career later on in Curisawa's quer and became friends.
Speaker 2: And when I went to the Academy Museum when it
Speaker 2: first opened, they had a Spike Lee room where he
Speaker 2: was basically showing off all his cool collection of stuff.
Speaker 2: He had a guitar from Prince that was in the
Speaker 2: shape of the symbol, and he had Kurisauer posters that
Speaker 2: were signed personally to him by Kurisauer, and I just
Speaker 2: think that there is something really special here about a
Speaker 2: guy who has managed to have such a unique and
Speaker 2: incredible kind of trailblazing career, who decides, you know, at
Speaker 2: an older age, to do essentially like an homage to
Speaker 2: an old friend who has now passed away. That's also
Speaker 2: seen as like one of that director's most surprising films.
Speaker 1: And then they I think is one surprised me and
Speaker 1: it's one of Spikes.
Speaker 2: I think this is one of Spike's most surprising films
Speaker 2: because the tone and vibe and feeling of this is
Speaker 2: very different and the way music is used, and it's
Speaker 2: very much a story about America in this much broader
Speaker 2: way than necessarily Like I think a lot of Spike's
Speaker 2: best films are really intimate and they're and really small scale,
Speaker 2: but this has this really broad scale. And yeah, I
Speaker 2: just thought it was so fun, Like I'm I'm really
Speaker 2: excited to see it again. And that's always my biggest
Speaker 2: kind of test of like did I really enjoy a movie,
Speaker 2: and it's like, yeah, I really want to see this again.
Speaker 2: I do think this is a all time a Denzel
Speaker 2: performance as well. I just I loved the nuances that
Speaker 2: he brought to this as like the tired old man
Speaker 2: who has to imagine the future.
Speaker 1: They played with his age in an interesting kind of
Speaker 1: subtextual and mettextual mm hmm and flat out textual way
Speaker 1: in this where he's he's slipped, but also he recognizes
Speaker 1: that he's slipped and he wants to get back to
Speaker 1: the top, and people are writing him off and asking
Speaker 1: him to just hang it up, and it builds to
Speaker 1: a moment there's a moment of physical exertion that it's
Speaker 1: a credit to Denzel that you buy it like, yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, towards the end of this film, towards the
Speaker 1: climax of this film. Yeah, it's a powerhouse performance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just so good. And he sat Rookie amazing as well.
Speaker 2: All absolutely understand why you cost him.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Jeffrey Wright, who has never been bad in a
Speaker 1: movie in my opinion, is wonderful here and brings a
Speaker 1: a kind of drama and comic relief also that are
Speaker 1: I think so important to the film. It's really really fun.
Speaker 2: He's also like I think the haw of if Spike
Speaker 2: is trying to say anything with this movie, I think
Speaker 2: that is really interesting. Stuff, just like with High and
Speaker 2: Low originally about like claws and how it is to
Speaker 2: be like a or person in the circle of rich
Speaker 2: people and stuff, and I just I think that Jeffrey
Speaker 2: Wright's character is such an interesting commentary on that, and
Speaker 2: I really loved the kind of way that the film
Speaker 2: played with that and then still allowed these two guys
Speaker 2: to have this really intimate and interesting friendship that they
Speaker 2: kind of had to go on that journey themselves you
Speaker 2: knock out where they both stand.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about this more in the put in the
Speaker 1: post spoiler section, but one of the things I appreciate
Speaker 1: about Spike as a and have always appreciated him about
Speaker 1: him as a filmmaker, and I love it about this
Speaker 1: movie is that he's able to put his finger on problems, problems,
Speaker 1: problems of race, problems of power and balance, and put
Speaker 1: his finger on the complexity of those things. But it's
Speaker 1: not like he's like and here's the answer.
Speaker 2: No, No, he's never like, here is a solution, because
Speaker 2: here's a solution, and he has.
Speaker 1: A really feel right and preachy. It's just like there's
Speaker 1: a moment, there are a few moments in here with
Speaker 1: a white cop where you feel the animosity of this
Speaker 1: cop and the kind of distrust that he has towards
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Wright's character and the situation the kidnapping as a whole.
Speaker 1: And you feel this antagonism in this animosity. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, like Spike also doesn't do the easy thing,
Speaker 1: which is just let you hate this guy and demonize
Speaker 1: this guy. He's like, this is a person that exists
Speaker 1: in your in life, and you're gonna have to grapple
Speaker 1: with this guy. And he lets that guy also, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say redeem himself, but show the role that he
Speaker 1: does play in this kind of you know, Greek chorus
Speaker 1: of New York that story, you know, And I think
Speaker 1: that is that's just what I really appreciate about it. Spike,
Speaker 1: you you're so right. He touches on all of these
Speaker 1: various issues use wealthy and quality, race, the carceral stitch, and.
Speaker 2: What happened, like the way that people islamophobia, like.
Speaker 1: Gender politics within hip hop, you know, and he he
Speaker 1: touches on all the There's this moment this is not
Speaker 1: a spoiler, but you know when uh King David comes
Speaker 1: into you know, confronts Young Felon, Young Felon calls his
Speaker 1: partner like refers to as a bitch. And then there's
Speaker 1: this moment where King David almost in this kind of
Speaker 1: like surreal cutting pattern where he keeps coming back to it,
Speaker 1: like why she got to be a bitch? Why she
Speaker 1: got to be It's like Spike definitely wanted to ask
Speaker 1: the question, but he also doesn't provide any answers. This
Speaker 1: isn't immoralizing, like why are these young guys speaking about
Speaker 1: women this way? This was here is the rich tapestry
Speaker 1: and look, and it's something to puzzle over. But I
Speaker 1: have no answers, And I think that's part of the
Speaker 1: the maturity, the laxity, the thing that I really love
Speaker 1: about this movie. At about swap, shall we take a
Speaker 1: quick break and dive into the spoiler version? Okay, and
Speaker 1: we're back. Before we talk about Hyas and Lois, let's
Speaker 1: talk about the movie that it is adapted from, High
Speaker 1: and Low. Akira Kurosawa is nineteen sixty three. I think
Speaker 1: Masterpiece for.
Speaker 2: Me, absolutely just such a fantastic movie.
Speaker 1: Is it my favorite film of his? Maybe it might
Speaker 1: be I rewatched because I think it's my most rewatched
Speaker 1: for sure, Like I'm going to rewatch this before seven
Speaker 1: Samurai Even or Ran or any of the other ones.
Speaker 1: And I don't know about you, but for me, it's
Speaker 1: the one. Obviously when you think Karasa, you're going to
Speaker 1: be familiar first with his Samurai action movies. But it
Speaker 1: was High and Low that blew me away because it is,
Speaker 1: you know, filmed in nineteen sixty three, and it is
Speaker 1: set in early sixties Japan, a Japan that is just
Speaker 1: beginning to flex its economic and industrial muscles after the
Speaker 1: devastation of World War Two, And it is just like
Speaker 1: jaw dropping and exciting and like and and there's a
Speaker 1: train hand off the ransom money sequence that is as
Speaker 1: good as anything you'll ever see. It's an amazing film.
Speaker 1: Your your thoughts on High and Low.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love High and Low. And it's basically we
Speaker 2: don't need to dive too much into the plotline because
Speaker 2: it is highest to Lowest is a very very very
Speaker 2: very very like accurate adaptation beat the beat just in
Speaker 2: a you know, set in a different time. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I love High Low. I think it's one of the
Speaker 2: most influential like police procedurals, like it definitely shaped the
Speaker 2: way that other people would tell stories like that I
Speaker 2: think it has so many interesting things to say about,
Speaker 2: like class in Japan and the kind of notion of
Speaker 2: like wealth and poverty and the wealth divide. I also
Speaker 2: think something really interesting is that there is kind of
Speaker 2: these huge influences that just we keep seeing from this movie.
Speaker 2: Like there is a Indian remake of this from nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy seven, there was Scorsese was going to remake this
Speaker 2: with David Mammett on script work, Like there was also
Speaker 2: a Japanese jay drama version of this, So it's really
Speaker 2: interesting to see how it's kind of been reinterpreted. But
Speaker 2: I really think that like even a movie, you know,
Speaker 2: like even even American directors like David Fincher as well
Speaker 2: as like then Korean directors like Bong June Hoe, like
Speaker 2: this is such an influential film on them, and I
Speaker 2: think it's very fun to see Spike continue that legacy,
Speaker 2: but by reinterpreting the film in a completely different way.
Speaker 2: You know, this original High and Low sixty three, so
Speaker 2: you're talking about like decades and decades past, And I
Speaker 2: think that the two of them together are really great.
Speaker 2: And I'm hoping because this is a cinema release for
Speaker 2: a few weeks. You can see it in the cinema
Speaker 2: right now. It's out in cinemas this weekend, but on
Speaker 2: September fifth, it will be on Apple TV Plus. And
Speaker 2: I'm hoping that somewhere somewhere in the world, somewhere in
Speaker 2: La somewhere in New York, somewhere in a rural theater
Speaker 2: where somebody just loves these two movies. I'm just hoping
Speaker 2: that somebody does a double bill because I think for
Speaker 2: like young film lovers who maybe haven't gone to see
Speaker 2: High and Low, I think seeing them both together would
Speaker 2: be just such an interesting thing. And yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: I think I love Chris Howers. He's a moss. And
Speaker 2: I think High and Low is like a a really
Speaker 2: human film, and I think that in a way that
Speaker 2: I think really worked.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Highest to Lowest. The aging music impresario David
Speaker 1: King has sold his record company, but now he wants
Speaker 1: it back because it's on the verge of being seld
Speaker 1: to sold to a like private equity funded media conglomerate
Speaker 1: that's going to break it up and sell it off
Speaker 1: piece by piece. David is he came up through the culture,
Speaker 1: He came up through the music. He can't for all
Speaker 1: the trappings of wealth. He is still very passionate about music,
Speaker 1: about black music, and about its role in American society
Speaker 1: and life. And so he wants his he wants his
Speaker 1: baby back. But in the midst of all this, there's
Speaker 1: a kidnapping. It seems as if for a moment that
Speaker 1: it's his son that's been kidnapped. Actually it's the son
Speaker 1: of his show his friend friend, Yeah, his friend and compatriot.
Speaker 1: And like colleague, I guess you would say, who is
Speaker 1: Paul who comes from the street and has done at
Speaker 1: least one lengthy bid in prison and is now living
Speaker 1: with David as basically part of his extended family. And
Speaker 1: so David really struggles with whether to pay this ransom
Speaker 1: for a person who is not his son, especially since
Speaker 1: he has just leveraged all the liquid cash that he
Speaker 1: has to buy back the company. This would mean risking
Speaker 1: his ability to buy back the company. But he, after
Speaker 1: much thinking about it, he decides that he's gonna pay
Speaker 1: the ransom's.
Speaker 2: Side seventeen million dollars.
Speaker 1: It's seventeen Swiss.
Speaker 2: In Swiss Franks because it will way less around the city.
Speaker 1: So the money handoff, however, goes sideways and the kidnappers
Speaker 1: get away with it, but Paul and Denzel manage to
Speaker 1: track this guy down. They find him a Young Felon.
Speaker 1: They find him in his studio where he's recording, and
Speaker 1: then you get this incredible confrontation through the studio window
Speaker 1: as David and Young Felon kind of much like the
Speaker 1: climax of High and Low, debate the merits of this
Speaker 1: crime scheme. And there's this other level too, where it's
Speaker 1: like David is also critiquing Young Felon's music and saying like, okay,
Speaker 1: this is there's something, but like I don't know who
Speaker 1: you are through your music. Tell me what you tell
Speaker 1: me your pain, tell me your dream, like all this stuff,
Speaker 1: and they keep and this turns into this like larger
Speaker 1: argument about like you know, why why should I you
Speaker 1: had your chance? And then eventually Denzel chases in the
Speaker 1: in the in the one part of the movie that
Speaker 1: maybe you have to suspend your disbelief a little harder
Speaker 1: than everything else. Sixty something year old Denzel Washington runs
Speaker 1: and pieces down thirty something year old He's up, Rocky
Speaker 1: catches him and then beats.
Speaker 2: His ass suit Denzel's seventy so he really they make
Speaker 2: you believe this, They make you believe that that this
Speaker 2: could happen next to you.
Speaker 1: But yeah, with the woman next to me when when
Speaker 1: Denzel was running.
Speaker 2: Was like okay, good no, yeah, she was like good, good, good,
Speaker 2: You're doing a great job.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And then you end up with this great kind of
Speaker 2: reflection of that argument in the studio where he goes
Speaker 2: to visit him in prison and Young Fella makes him
Speaker 2: this offer of like, if you sign least my music,
Speaker 2: we're going to be so huge, Like together, we're going
Speaker 2: to be so good, we're gonna it will be the
Speaker 2: biggest signing in music history because of what I did
Speaker 2: and because my songs are going crazy.
Speaker 1: Because of the notoriety, the attention. This end. If there
Speaker 1: is a thesis behind this movie, this is part of it.
Speaker 2: It's that, as they say, it's.
Speaker 1: Young Felon says that all that matters in the modern
Speaker 1: world of twenty twenty five is attention? Can you get it?
Speaker 1: And David King thinks, there it should be more to
Speaker 1: it than that. Of course attention is important, but what's
Speaker 1: your message exactly? David essentially just declients, and.
Speaker 2: There's this great line which is also that I would
Speaker 2: say it's kind of funny because I think it is
Speaker 2: the main theme of the movie to take away, which
Speaker 2: I think is really powerful. But it's also the tagline,
Speaker 2: which I think is really funny, which is just not
Speaker 2: all money is good money. And that's basically what he
Speaker 2: says to him, is like, I can't take that money
Speaker 2: after what you did, you know, and you kind of
Speaker 2: get this. He's like kind of screaming and being dragged away,
Speaker 2: which is, you know, the same, very similar ending to
Speaker 2: the original high end low you.
Speaker 1: Mentioned in the preamble, like Spikes, this being a kind
Speaker 1: of film nerd film history and just like letting loose.
Speaker 1: And I thought that from the from the very first
Speaker 1: seconds of this film.
Speaker 2: This film, let's talk about the opening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, these incredible scenic like landscape shots of Brooklyn and
Speaker 1: New York City, the most set two four K like
Speaker 1: h incredible set two the opening number of Oklahoma nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty five's Oklahoma beautiful to me, it's part of a
Speaker 1: thing that is a signature of Spikes. He doesn't lot
Speaker 1: he got game, which is where he sets this kind
Speaker 1: of uh, you know, story about a black basketball player
Speaker 1: and his dad in Brooklyn to Aaron Cohen, and it's
Speaker 1: that it's it's Spike saying to me, in my interpretation
Speaker 1: cities urban America, that is America. It's part of America.
Speaker 1: As much as the wheat feels of the Midwest and
Speaker 1: the grand vistas of the Grand Canyon are part of
Speaker 1: like American lore. This is these parts of America are
Speaker 1: part of America. And it was just like from that moment,
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm in this is tremendous fun.
Speaker 2: I think it's such a good way to establish just
Speaker 2: how good David King and his family have had it
Speaker 2: in that moment too as well. You're letting every day
Speaker 2: that they wake up is like it's the best site.
Speaker 2: He can make any move, he can do anything, he
Speaker 2: can convince board members to back him. And I find
Speaker 2: it really interesting and I think this is, you know,
Speaker 2: the universality of like cinema. But you know, if you
Speaker 2: look at High and Low, it's about a guy trying
Speaker 2: to take over a shoemaking company, right and hear it's
Speaker 2: a giant record label that he wants to stop being
Speaker 2: bought from from Stray Dog Records. But I just think
Speaker 2: that shows you how incredibly relatable this idea is. Where
Speaker 2: at the center of the story. All it really is
Speaker 2: about is about somebody looking up at a house then
Speaker 2: ever going to afford to live in, and wondering why
Speaker 2: that person gets that, and kind of then exploring what
Speaker 2: can come from that. And I think something that's really
Speaker 2: exciting and vibrant about this movie is the choices that
Speaker 2: Spike makes to keep it in his own vibe and tone,
Speaker 2: because the original is seen as like a pretty downbeat,
Speaker 2: like no noir police procedural, but Spike was like, no,
Speaker 2: I'm going I'm going big, I'm going soapy, I'm going important,
Speaker 2: I'm going oscars, but I'm also for me. I think
Speaker 2: I was really enjoying the whole movie. But when Denzel's
Speaker 2: when David King and Paul kind of reunite post Denzel
Speaker 2: paying the money for his son, I found a lot
Speaker 2: of that early stuff and this is complimentary where he's
Speaker 2: this sort of deciding whether or not he should pay.
Speaker 2: They're really brave, like they don't make him look like
Speaker 2: a good person. He says these incredibly brash, cruel things
Speaker 2: about this not being his own son, which you understand
Speaker 2: from the face of it the money that it costs.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, They have this great counterpart
Speaker 2: in his son, who was this meant to be kidnapped, Trey,
Speaker 2: who almost has like a childlike innocence about it because
Speaker 2: he's a teenager, where he's just like, well, of course
Speaker 2: you would pay for it. It's you would pay it
Speaker 2: for me, you'd pay it for my god brother, you know.
Speaker 2: So they get you in this really emotional state watching
Speaker 2: this kind of grappling, and if you've seen Hei and Low,
Speaker 2: you know what's gonna happen. But I felt like they
Speaker 2: did such a good job where I was really just
Speaker 2: like I was like physically like, oh, come on, man,
Speaker 2: Like he was saying stuff where I was just like,
Speaker 2: this is so hard to hear. But when him and
Speaker 2: Paul come together and they kind of go into the
Speaker 2: night on this quest to find young Felon, there's this
Speaker 2: kind of free jazz, a pro like kind of association.
Speaker 2: Like there's this kind of music that feels like you're
Speaker 2: watching a French New Aid movie. There's this lighting that
Speaker 2: looks so jazzy, and Spike just brings me go to
Speaker 2: a film stock.
Speaker 1: At different points in the movie, there's the yes when
Speaker 1: people are watching him, it's very clearly on like or
Speaker 1: made to seem as if it's on like thirty five
Speaker 1: millimeter like films, the cinema film stock. And to your point, yes,
Speaker 1: this when they go after young Felon, there's a change
Speaker 1: there too. It's like he's moving through these different eras
Speaker 1: of film with this, with this movie, and it's just
Speaker 1: go on.
Speaker 2: I was just gonna say, it feels like it would
Speaker 2: have been an easy movie to play safe if he'd
Speaker 2: have played it serious, were in a prestige TV era,
Speaker 2: you could have really gone for that like totally different tone.
Speaker 2: But instead, this is like the most Spike Lee movie
Speaker 2: I feel like I've seen for a long time, even
Speaker 2: like I love old Spike, that was like such a
Speaker 2: huge part of my film lover's career was just like
Speaker 2: watching you know, his classic movies and films that have
Speaker 2: just completely changed the way that cinema is made, and
Speaker 2: that kind of like raw energy that Mars energy that
Speaker 2: he had. But this took me back to that, but
Speaker 2: on this like really grand scale, which is such a
Speaker 2: fun thing to get to see from a filmmaker who
Speaker 2: is aging and who you have kind of aged with.
Speaker 1: Well, I think that's part of what makes it feel
Speaker 1: really personal to me. Like there's this Obviously a huge
Speaker 1: element of this story is this kind of like aging
Speaker 1: creative type who all through the picture is having people
Speaker 1: whose only dream is to like have a sliver of
Speaker 1: what he has pitching him themselves all the time. Can
Speaker 1: I just play you a minute of my song? Can
Speaker 1: I just send you this? You have to listen to
Speaker 1: this person?
Speaker 2: Have you heard of this?
Speaker 1: Like how I get to like trying everyone.
Speaker 2: And they're trying to almost like and they're trying to
Speaker 2: almost like they jump scare him. They're always like waiting
Speaker 2: for him at the record label, waiting for him outside.
Speaker 2: And you know what, David King always because he feels
Speaker 2: like he's got that that that super ear, you know,
Speaker 2: he can't find the right person.
Speaker 1: And I just feels as if, Yeah, it feels as
Speaker 1: if with both Spike and Andzel who you know, their
Speaker 1: roles and their positions in the industry and and culture. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's very easy for me to imagine that same kind
Speaker 1: of dynamic happening all the time. And you really feel
Speaker 1: the there's never h You always feel that David is
Speaker 1: feels the weight and responsibility of like I'm he's a
Speaker 1: super busy guy. He's like trying to close these business
Speaker 1: deals that are extremely important to him. But he has
Speaker 1: to stop because like the lifeblood of his business is
Speaker 1: I got to stop and listen to this person for
Speaker 1: a minute, because it really might be them that revitals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really could be that. And I also I
Speaker 2: think something that is so incredible about Spike is if
Speaker 2: you if you look at the last movie he made,
Speaker 2: which was the absolutely snubbed in my opinion, like should
Speaker 2: have won a million. I think the Five Bloods about
Speaker 2: you know, which was kind of again, what is his
Speaker 2: take on an American war film?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: That is an unbelievable movie. And I wonder, and you know,
Speaker 2: Delroy Lindo, he got such an unbelievable performance out of him,
Speaker 2: And I do wonder if this is like a you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, we shouldn't be surprised at Spike Lee, but
Speaker 2: I feel like that followed by this, I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm just so excited to see what the rest of
Speaker 2: this era looks like, because it feels like just completely
Speaker 2: he's completely free and excited and has people believing in
Speaker 2: him and his vision as he should. Because this looks
Speaker 2: like an expensive movie as well. That's another thing that
Speaker 2: I think is and it looks to see spend that
Speaker 2: apple money baby like you deserve it.
Speaker 1: You don't feel like again as a New Yorker. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, there is a two minute Boston.
Speaker 2: Wait, wait, wait, let me let's let's go for a
Speaker 2: quick and break and then let's come back. And I'm
Speaker 2: gonna ask you New.
Speaker 4: York Jason, Yeah, yeah, and we're back, Jason.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: In this special Spike Lee themed segment of Jason explains
Speaker 2: it or tell us about Spike is in New Yorker
Speaker 2: and how this movie absolutely just plays into that on
Speaker 2: the highest level.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, first of all, there is a two
Speaker 1: minute fuck Boston, Boston sucks like in this camera direct
Speaker 1: to camera that is happening at during that straddles the
Speaker 1: kind of set piece action sequence of this film, the
Speaker 1: handoff between the handoff of the money. And does it
Speaker 1: feel gratuitous, Yes, I think so, but it also hilario.
Speaker 1: Was it hilarious?
Speaker 2: Yes? Did everyone in the cinema get amped up to
Speaker 2: be part of that you know moment? And what I
Speaker 2: really loved is this little it's a little snippet of
Speaker 2: community that you feel in like a sports moment or
Speaker 2: like a kind of some kind of community event like
Speaker 2: that when you get caught on the train and someone
Speaker 2: starts yelling that and then everyone starts yelling it. But
Speaker 2: the bit that made me laugh out loud was after
Speaker 2: the train kind of halts to a stop and we
Speaker 2: know that David has dropped the money, then the train
Speaker 2: chant changes to Boston broke the train, or like Austin
Speaker 2: stop the train or something, and then everyone's blaming them
Speaker 2: for that too, and I just thought it was like
Speaker 2: really real and really funny.
Speaker 1: It is really real and and Spike has an ability,
Speaker 1: you know, in that way that where we talked about
Speaker 1: his ability to kind of depict the complexity without trying
Speaker 1: to like shove an answer into the mix. It's that
Speaker 1: ability that allows Spike to really capture something essential about
Speaker 1: New York almost every single to the different people and
Speaker 1: characters and the different ways that they all relate to
Speaker 1: each other in ways that are often like in confrontation,
Speaker 1: but are also in surprising ways like in harmony at
Speaker 1: different points. And maybe my favorite, well maybe my most
Speaker 1: rewatched Spike film is The twenty fifth Hour, which came
Speaker 1: out like two thousand and two or two thousand.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's talk about times that's that's a lesson talked
Speaker 2: about one.
Speaker 1: It came out in two thousand and two. It you
Speaker 1: can feel the nine to eleven attacks, like the impact
Speaker 1: of it in the all throughout the movie. And there's
Speaker 1: this incredible, like five minute monologue that Ed Norton's character
Speaker 1: is going to jail and he's kind of like settling
Speaker 1: all his personal accounts in this twenty five hours before
Speaker 1: he has to appear at the jail upstate, and he's
Speaker 1: gone to this club and you know, and his girlfriend.
Speaker 1: He's unsure if his girlfriend is going to stick with
Speaker 1: him throughout this thing. And he goes to the bathroom
Speaker 1: to kind of like just have a moment, and he
Speaker 1: looks on the mirror. In the mirror, on the mirror,
Speaker 1: there's some graffiti that says fuck you, and this causes
Speaker 1: him into the mirror to launch into this like racist screed.
Speaker 1: But it's where he criticizes, like course, terms every kind
Speaker 1: of archetypical New York character, the squeegey guys who come
Speaker 1: out and wash your windows, which hasn't really been a
Speaker 1: thing since the eighties, but still, you know what, I
Speaker 1: grew up in London. Yeah, every like the Puerto Ricans
Speaker 1: and the Porto Rican Day Parade, Dominicans, the black community,
Speaker 1: the white stockbrokers, the cops. He goes it like everybody,
Speaker 1: and he does it in this way that I mean,
Speaker 1: is it Is it a racist creed? Yes, But also
Speaker 1: it's it's the kind of thing where, if you're from
Speaker 1: New York, you've heard every single person in that montage
Speaker 1: say something about every other person in that montage in
Speaker 1: a very similar way, where it's this coarseness that's born
Speaker 1: out of I'm living with these people. They're in my
Speaker 1: face all the time. It's not this like I hate
Speaker 1: that person in a kind of remote theoretical way where
Speaker 1: you don't see them, or this person annoys me in
Speaker 1: this kind of remote theoretical way, you know, I hate
Speaker 1: as of people you've never met. It's like every day
Speaker 1: I'm mashed up against all these different types of people
Speaker 1: and here's my issues with all of them. And that
Speaker 1: encapsulates New York and anything maybe that I've ever seen
Speaker 1: in a film. It's that kind of antagonism that comes
Speaker 1: from not necessarily a place of warmth or love, but
Speaker 1: as like a kind of it's almost like bragging, like
Speaker 1: I survive this, I live in this I live surrounded
Speaker 1: by these groups who are constantly jostling for position, for attention,
Speaker 1: for money, who are trying to rob me or trying
Speaker 1: to like rip me off or trying to get over
Speaker 1: on me, And I would never live anywhere else that
Speaker 1: is like, that's basically what it's saying, and it's incredible.
Speaker 1: And Spike has that ability like he's not trying to
Speaker 1: solve the societal problems in New York City with this monola.
Speaker 1: He's just trying to show you the complexity of it.
Speaker 1: And that's why this movie is just one of my favorite, favorite,
Speaker 1: favorite favorite Spike films. And I think maybe the the
Speaker 1: one film that deals with the terrorist attacks of nine
Speaker 1: to eleven in a way that feels like legitimate and real.
Speaker 1: And Spike has this power, that ability to just like
Speaker 1: pull these threads together.
Speaker 2: What does it feel like to have a directa that
Speaker 2: is like so local to you? Because I feel like
Speaker 2: that's just to have like a groundbreaking director but who
Speaker 2: is essentially from where you're from and who makes films
Speaker 2: about where you're from. Not everyone kind of experiences that.
Speaker 2: What's that been like as a cinema love.
Speaker 1: And it's pretty it's pretty crazy. You know, like when
Speaker 1: I was living in New York the last time in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: I mean, like his offices in Fort Green were like
Speaker 1: everybody knew where they were, you could walk by them.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: It's a really cool thing to know that there's a
Speaker 1: guy who could just kind of gets it and can
Speaker 1: put that on the screen. It's an amazing feeling who
Speaker 1: really understands like the different groups and the way the
Speaker 1: city is. There's no one story to a city of
Speaker 1: ten million people. And then like the shameless you know, listen,
Speaker 1: the shameless Knicks fandom. It's fantastic, you know, and it's
Speaker 1: probably more in your face and ridiculous of this in
Speaker 1: high's the lowest than it's ever been because let's you know,
Speaker 1: the Knicks haven't been good for a long time. This
Speaker 1: is the first this is the first New York Spike
Speaker 1: film since the Knicks have been good. Again. True, he's
Speaker 1: really enjoying it. He's really enjoying He's he's and he's
Speaker 1: really happy about it.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, could you talk a little bit about just
Speaker 2: about some of the stuff that we do get to
Speaker 2: see here, because there is that the chase we get
Speaker 2: through the parade is some of the most beautiful kind
Speaker 2: of visuals that we've had from him in a long
Speaker 2: time too. So could you talk a little bit about
Speaker 2: about that parade and what it means.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, Supporter you Can Day Parade, and that's
Speaker 1: one of the biggest events in then calendar of New
Speaker 1: York City. And it's funny because in twenty fifth Hour
Speaker 1: in that monologue, like Edward Norton's character calls out the
Speaker 1: Porter you Can Day parade calls it the worst parade
Speaker 1: of the city, and you're you know, which is a
Speaker 1: take that I think you you will hear in certain
Speaker 1: areas of New York for sure, But it's also like huge,
Speaker 1: I mean here, it's like the feeling.
Speaker 2: You get that feeling like in England we have Annoying
Speaker 2: Hill Carnival, which is like our version of Carnival, but
Speaker 2: it and captured that like true community party. It is.
Speaker 1: It's an amazing event that takes over huge swaths of
Speaker 1: the city. And then even if you if you're not there,
Speaker 1: if you don't go to the parade route, you feel
Speaker 1: it throughout the city because you'll be on the train
Speaker 1: and you'll see people with the flags and you know,
Speaker 1: with flags on their shirts and carrying uh, you know,
Speaker 1: different emblems of Puerto Rico, and I thought he captured it,
Speaker 1: the vibrancy of it, yeah, really well in this as
Speaker 1: you know, a kind of integral though people complain about it,
Speaker 1: that integral part of the culture of it.
Speaker 2: He shows like how it can literally get in your way,
Speaker 2: like that's part of the whole why the why it
Speaker 2: is set that but you get you know, we see
Speaker 2: Rosy Perez, who obviously had her breakout in Do the
Speaker 2: Right Thing, and I love Rosie Press so much, and
Speaker 2: you know, having her, they're kind of at the parade
Speaker 2: and then you know, all these beautiful shots of people
Speaker 2: dancing and the sky and the Puerta Rican flag in
Speaker 2: front of the blue skies was just really beautiful. But
Speaker 2: at the same time it is letting you know, like
Speaker 2: this takes over a city like the I think that
Speaker 2: that while the movies train Handover obviously is hard to
Speaker 2: compare to the original High and Low one, which is
Speaker 2: so incredible. I thought the way that they envisioned how
Speaker 2: young people understand the city in a way old people
Speaker 2: can't was really really great because they absolutely just they
Speaker 2: take that money, no problem, like that motorcycle chase where
Speaker 2: they're switching between the different guys. I was like, yes,
Speaker 2: he understands that while David King has money and power,
Speaker 2: he doesn't have people on the street anymore. He needs
Speaker 2: poor for that, you know. And I just I thought
Speaker 2: that sequence was was just so so brilliant. Well you
Speaker 2: are that you mentioned twenty fifth out, Well you are
Speaker 2: the underseen Spike Lee movies that people should check out.
Speaker 1: Off to this one, my underseen Spikes. I like it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I I go for it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I like his genre stuff. This isn't different,
Speaker 1: this isn't underscene. It's hard for me to just like.
Speaker 1: I think he's Spike Clockers, which is a adaptation of
Speaker 1: an incredible Richard Price novel Richard Price, I think one
Speaker 1: of the greatest writers of dialogue that I've ever read, ever, ever, ever, Clockers.
Speaker 1: It doesn't get talked about a ton I think that.
Speaker 1: I mean, uh, Summer of Sam is another montage heavy
Speaker 1: one that isn't I think it's it falls it falls
Speaker 1: short of like a even like an above average Spike film,
Speaker 1: But there is like something about the vibrancy and the
Speaker 1: way he captures the the kind of Mailstrom that late
Speaker 1: seventies New York was not only a city kind of
Speaker 1: breaking down economically under a wave of crime and in
Speaker 1: this film, like facing a wave of serial murder attacks
Speaker 1: by the son of Sam, but it was also a
Speaker 1: place where the stirring you know you add punk rock, Yeah,
Speaker 1: like running into the what would become like hip hop,
Speaker 1: and so it was a really culturally vibrant time and
Speaker 1: he captured that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, well, I think that's a great picks
Speaker 2: also because like again there's not one story about New York,
Speaker 2: and that's one of those many stories about New York
Speaker 2: and about how that impacted, like the Bronx and everything.
Speaker 2: I will shout out one, which is my h This
Speaker 2: was essentially his kind of like post old Boy. He
Speaker 2: remade Old Boy. Might not remember that it was he
Speaker 2: was taken away, don't worry, taken away from him in
Speaker 2: the editing room. You know. He he didn't put Spike
Speaker 2: Lee joint on it. It ends up just being called
Speaker 2: a Spike Lee film. But after that, he essentially crowdfunded
Speaker 2: a remake of Gandrin has called The Sweet Blood of Jesus,
Speaker 2: which I just find such an interesting thing. I love
Speaker 2: the original movie, so I'm always interested to see somebody
Speaker 2: take it on. Obviously hard to do a remake that's better,
Speaker 2: but I think it's a really interesting counterpiece and I
Speaker 2: think it brought the original Gandarin has to a lot
Speaker 2: more people who had maybe not seen it. And I
Speaker 2: feel like, really that was just before his kind of
Speaker 2: like career resurgence that came back post Old Boy and
Speaker 2: he started doing you know you, then had his musical
Speaker 2: with Shirak, you had a bunch of different then you
Speaker 2: obviously had Black Klansman, which I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people love big you know, Awards film. But he's He's
Speaker 2: had an unbelievable career. I mean, what other direct are
Speaker 2: there who are still looked upon like this, who have
Speaker 2: directed you know, thirty plus movies in I think in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, I mean, not really many of them.
Speaker 2: And I I'm glad that even though it's a short
Speaker 2: theatrical release. I think that Spike Lee adapting in Akira
Speaker 2: Curus hour movie should be based on an Ed muc
Speaker 2: Bain novel, by the Way, King's Ransom, which is like
Speaker 2: from the late fifties, which is again the same idea,
Speaker 2: would you if you are the most rich person like
Speaker 2: and you have the money should you pay for somebody
Speaker 2: else's kid who's been kidnapped in your kid's place, Like,
Speaker 2: this is such a huge film, and I think it
Speaker 2: should be in theaters, and I'm glad people are gonna
Speaker 2: get see in theaters and hopefully you know, like a
Speaker 2: Sinners or as we've seen, you know, strangely with K
Speaker 2: Pop Demon Hunters, which is in theaters this weekend for
Speaker 2: sing Along, they've already had to add more screenings to that.
Speaker 2: We know that singers stayed in the movie theaters for months,
Speaker 2: especially in the thirty five millimeter in seventy million meter
Speaker 2: screenings at places like the New Beverly. So I'm really
Speaker 2: hoping that this kind of catches fire in a similar
Speaker 2: way and that you're gonna be able to see theaters
Speaker 2: continuing to show this and maybe even like theeas who
Speaker 2: you wouldn't normally see, Like I would love for this
Speaker 2: to be more available to a wider audience, say in
Speaker 2: AMCs and regals and cinemas, rather than your arrow and
Speaker 2: your Lamel and your smaller theater chains. So I hope
Speaker 2: it does break out because I do think that one
Speaker 2: of the things that's really interesting about this movie, and
Speaker 2: I think something that shows that Spike knows a shows
Speaker 2: that Spike knows how young people watch stuff. Now, the
Speaker 2: way that this movie flips between kind of genre and
Speaker 2: tone and moments almost feels like vignettes that you could
Speaker 2: be watching on you know, TikTok or something like that.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure Spike is not trying to make a
Speaker 2: movie that feels like TikTok, and this doesn't feel like
Speaker 2: tik But I do think that there is a version
Speaker 2: where if you're a teenager or a twenty something who
Speaker 2: doesn't love watching movies, and I've met many of them
Speaker 2: and I get it it's not your thing, this feels
Speaker 2: like the kind of movie that could enrapture you and
Speaker 2: inspire you and make you want to watch movies again,
Speaker 2: especially in a twenty twenty five landscape of massive blockbusters
Speaker 2: and comic book films being the major thing. So I
Speaker 2: hope it does stay in theaters for a little bit longer,
Speaker 2: and if not, at least everyone will be able to
Speaker 2: watch it on Apple Plus TV, which honestly Apple continuing
Speaker 2: its twenty twenty five quality rain over pretty much every
Speaker 2: other streaming service at this point.
Speaker 1: Well, I hope people will watch it on the next
Speaker 1: episode of Extra Vision, We're diving into some news through
Speaker 1: this episode. Thanks for listening. Bye x ray Vision is
Speaker 1: hosted by Jason Concepcion and Rosie Knight and is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeart Podcast.
Speaker 2: Our executive producers are Joelmini and Aaron Kaufman.
Speaker 1: Our supervising producer is Abuza part.
Speaker 2: Our producers are Common, Laurent Dean Jonathan and Bay Wag.
Speaker 1: A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
Speaker 1: songs by Aaron Kaufman.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman and
Speaker 2: Heidi our discord moderator.