Written by Spike Lee, Joie Lee, and Cinque Lee
Directed by Spike Lee

“Lee sat down with his sister and brother and cobbled together memories of their largely happy childhood growing up in Brooklyn.  From those anecdotes, Lee and his siblings fashioned the touching story of Troy (Zelda Harris), a young black woman coming of age in the early 1970’s.”

Back in the 1970’s and into the 1980’s, my family participated in a program many are familiar with called the Fresh Air Fund.  The idea was to take kids from the inner city and have them experience a summer outside of the hot cement of the city.  Many of these kids went to camps, but a few went to homes to share two weeks or a month with another family.  That is where I developed a life-long friendship with a girl named Sonia who came from Brooklyn.  Coincidentally, that is also the setting for Spike Lee’s movie, Crooklyn.

I went into this a little ahead of others who approach it, having heard stories throughout my life of living in a brownstone in Brooklyn and later on, in the projects.  It is also set in a time when I was growing up myself, and kids in the suburbs sometimes weren’t all that much different in the games we played.  Right from the opening credits of a Brooklyn street in the summertime, memories were brought back.  These weren’t all my own memories, but those from my youth and those that I learned from Sonia.

The Brooklyn of Spike Lee’s youth can be described as something of a freaky time and place.  There are crazy neighbors, blonde-haired African-American transvestites dancing at the corner store, and other crazy sights that we didn’t see in our suburbs, but occasionally caught glimpses of on the evening news.

Troy’s family life is filled with strife.  She is the only girl with four brothers.  Her mother, Carolyn (portrayed by Alfre Woodard), has her hands full, keeping discipline and order, as well as dealing with a husband, Woody (portrayed by Delroy Lindo), who is a fledgling musician and doesn’t always provide as he should.  Still, there is love there – it’s not a case of he is not redeemable.  It is just who he is, and it creates a layer of strife on top of the other pressures exuded by normal family life.

Crooklyn offers a series of glimpses into the everyday life of this family.  There are many trials within the family, and it ends in a rather heartbreaking way, but one that also offers some hope.  Rather than having a definitive overall story-arc, it seems to be vignettes that tie the life of the family together. In my eyes, this gave it more of a feel for what family life is really like, rather than it being a central story with little else going on.

Perhaps it is because of how it resonates with my own youth that it has now become my favorite of all Lee’s films.  Troy is a remarkable character who takes after her outspoken mother in many ways, but still needs parental guidance.  I was afraid all of the brothers would sort of blend into one character, but Lee managed to make them each a bit distinctive.

Alfre Woodard is simply marvelous as Carolyn, and I was disappointed not to see any nominations for this film in the Oscars that year, particularly in the acting.  Anyone who doesn’t think this character is true to life obviously hasn’t been in a family where everything is one-sided, and one person has pressure on them most of the time.  Carolyn loves her family, but sometimes the pressure gets to be a bit too much.  Delroy Lindo is excellent as Woody, as he vacillates between just not getting the idea that he could be so much more supportive of his spouse in raising the family and feeling sorry for himself because he isn’t a better provider.  Woody is a dreamer, but those dreams don’t pay the bills.  However, sometimes dreamers inspire someone in the next generation who can go on to recreate places and times for the rest of us.

The best, though, had to be Zelda Harris as Troy.  She’s at a difficult time in her life already, as well as being the lone female among her siblings.  This is a situation ripe for turmoil, and the usual sibling rivalry comes to a head more than once.  At the same time, Troy is vulnerable, needing her brothers’ protection at times.  It’s a fascinating dynamic and one that really comes across between the love and the conflict within the family.  Harris pulls off the character magnificently, right to the end, when we know she is stepping into a role she shouldn’t have to.

The soundtrack for Crooklyn is excellent and really drew me back to those days in my youth when everyone actually got together outside and played games, rather than having to set up “playdates” all the time.  It was nice to just grab a ball and see who was out on the street that you could rope into a game.  Even on the streets of Brooklyn, which was more dangerous than where I grew up, this was a regular occurrence, and people weren’t yet paralyzed by fear of all the bad things in the world.

If there’s one complaint I have, it’s about the DVD itself.  I like extras, particularly behind-the-scenes look or commentary, and there’s none of that here.  The description on the DVD is one of the best I’ve come across at really grasping what the film is about and letting the viewer know what they are in for.  I positively loved this film, and only wish I could sit down with Sonia so we could watch it together.


BONUS MATERIAL:

• Production Notes
• Cast and Filmmaker Bios
• Universal Web Links