Movie Review: 25th Hour

Now there's some good character development there.  [Note: the rest of this review contains a spoiler.  Stop reading now if you don't want to know.]  And they had enough of this good character development to go around to all the characters in the movie!  They oughta bottle that stuff and sell it to all the sorry-ass writers and directors out there (I'd be the first to buy it!) 'cause that shit is scarce!  These characters are real!  This whole film is so real.  It's almost too real.  You can't get a surprise ending out of it, even if Mr. Lee had wanted to make it one.

So here's the story: guy's got one day left before reporting to prison to serve a seven year drug charge.  What does he do?

What would you do?  I'd probably think it was the end of the world, just like this guy does.  I'd probably think about who ratted me out, about running away, or about how to survive if I don't.  I'd do just about everything this guy does, including walking away to leave his betrayer get killed by thugs.  (No, I'd like to think I'd say no to that.  Stand in the way or something.  Say something brave about nonviolence.)   But the truth is, I probably wouldn't.  I'd be angry and scared and it's easier just to let it happen.  It's always easier to just walk away.

It'd have been easier for Spike Lee to make this a fantasy film.  Stuff that never happens.  Or never happens like the storybooks say they're going to happen.  Stuff everyone likes to believe in.  Something comes out of the sky and saves the guy, deux ex machina and all that.

I hate that stuff.  This's the kind of honesty I like from a movie.  That's the difference between art and entertainment.  Art tells the truth.  Entertainment lies to you.  (Remember the A&E channel? Is that still around?  I always thought that was a stupid name.  People who like entertainment usually don't want to have anything to do with art and vice versa.)  I hate being lied to.  Who doesn't?  So why do you like entertaining films?  You want to escape from reality?  I want to escape from escapism.  You don't need to escape.  You need to take a good long look, 'cause this is all there is: shit.  You don't need to escape.  Because the flip side to that coin is just as real: sunshine.  There ya have it folks: Lucky White Girl's Philosophy of Life: shit and sunshine.

Comments

[Jake]

This is one of the few films to come out in recent years that have actually gotten to me. I was facing jail time and while I was waiting to see what happened this film really got me thinking about what I would do when the time came.

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