BlacKkKlansman

BlacKkKlansman is an understated, feel good movie with some hints of blaxploitation and is sharply critical of Donald Trump. Racism, the black power movement and the KKK are dealt with here, meaning that the film will not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s clever, with Spike’s typical light and precise direction, and can score John David Washington some roles that would make him a new African- American star on a level with Denzel Washington. P.S.: Paul Walter Hauser (the fat little “secret agent” from I, Tonya) is an incredible fit for these ultra-redneck characters. [Cannes] (17/05/2018)

A racist African-American picture based on an incredible true story. Although Spike Lee slightly bungled the dramaturgy and reveals details that are unnecessary for the plot, it’s bearable. The acting performances are excellent, especially Driver as the cop who risks his neck and the great young Washington, who knows how to come across as polite and pissed off all at once. (09/11/2020)

Spike Lee chose an interesting, absurd and almost unbelievable story, which he skilfully and cleverly adapted into a brilliant satirical comedy. His casting choice is also totally accurate and there’s magic between the actors, which, for the viewer, is pure delight. All that is wrapped into a near-Tarantino style. Then, just when you’re thinking how amazing a film you’re watching, Spike Lee throws in a straight superfluous documentary-like epilogue which differs in atmosphere from the rest. It’s like the director decided to make his opinions clear at all cost, being so explicit even the simple-minded can get the message. Fortunately, despite this last-minute blunder, the general feeling remains positive, and I’d say it’s definitely a quality film worth watching. [KVIFF 2018] (01/07/2018)

Spike Lee is an extremist, and also a big asshole. BlacKkKlansman is a film with a humour so black that it could pick cotton in the fields of Birth of a Nation; it pushes political incorrectness to the limit and works very smartly with the development of the two lead characters, who first must pretend they are one, in order to really become one in the end. There are moments that are packed with ideas and satirical jokes, but also others when its formally artificial and lacking credibility, but Spike compensates that with the use of archive footage and explicit allusions at Trump. In any case, heavy-hitting quality that, thanks mainly to the dynamic narration and the amazing actors, never falls into a sterility that it obviously fears like the Devil fears the cross. 80% (08/11/2018)

The story, despite its great dramatic and meager sociological potential, only tickles its own possibilities and entertains with its graduated, unpredictable ending. The rest of the time (and especially in the disgracefully stupidly pasted-on epilogue), it's Spike Lee at his worst, that is, in the form of a blind preacher shouting at the top of his lungs. I fully agree with the thoughts he wants to convey, but their format is so terribly tired that a week after the screening I have trouble remembering the pleasant dueling between John David Washington and Adam Driver, and all I can recall are the endlessly repeated references to the pop culture of the time and the social clues for the hard-hearted, which is why I am being a bit more strict in my rating this time around. (21/02/2019)