Summer of Sam

Back to my old friend CEX with this film, Summer of Sam.  Had never heard of it, but I had heard and knew a fair bit about the serial killer behind it, Son of Sam, so I was pretty intrigued by this.   "Spike Lee's take on the "Son of Sam" murders in New York City during the summer of 1977 centering on the residents of an Italian-American Northeast Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another." 

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This was not what I expected to be, it was definitely better than expected, but it was different.  Summer of Sam is based around the town Berkowitz was active, and he actually takes a back seat in this film.  It's more about fictional characters who live in the town, and more from the eyes of someone who had no idea about the murders - let's say, someone from the time it was set.  
Really, the only you even see Berkowitz, is in weird flashbacks with a dog, and when he is caught, so really he's pretty much a supporting character and compared to other films and tv, that is a very original way of doing a film about a serial killer. 

The main characters in Summer of Sam, are some interesting characters indeed to say the least.  Maybe think of angrier versions of the FRIENDS characters, with more swearing and stripping...  Yep, I said stripping.  Adrian Brody in my eyes was my all time favourite character in this.  He plays Richie, who is not only a stripper, but also sleeps with older thirsty men who watching the show on the downlow.  Nothing wrong with either of these, as long as both parties are safe, (there is my TED talk for today), but both seem so out of place in this film.  It's about how the people of the town are reacting to a serial killer, and then bam, there is a stripper.  It makes it more memorable though, even if you can't remember the name, "It's that film with the serial killer and the stripper", "Ohhh, I know the one!".  

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Overall, I did like this film, I thought the idea of taking it from a different angle, and not so much on the killer was clever but also risky - and who doesn't love a risk taker.  Yes, it's not the best, and I feel the music was kind of a last thought.  It was just over the top of some scenes, but didn't actually fit to that scene, such as sad sounding blaring music over a passionate sex scene - but hey, I still enjoyed it.