*** Official "25TH HOUR" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Alex Spindler]

Argghh - Double Post

 

[Michael Reuben]

I can see him saying "who cares" when asked if the non-NY'ers wouldn't get his movie as long as the NY'ers do.

Or maybe: "It's good if people ask questions instead of having everything spelled out for them."

M.

 

[Patrick Barrett]

The reason I posted is because of the song a couple of people mentioned in the club. It's not Grandmater flash or a duran,duran remix. The song is called Cavern by Liquid Liquid. Well he does actually mix in white lines for a bit but in the commerical it was always Cavern.
I was actually hunting this song down myself and found this thread on it.
Grandmaster actually ripped off the tune and Cavern never received any compensation/credit for it until duran duran did their version.
And another thing I wanted to mention was at first I couldn't see the reason for the teacher/student part of the story, but maybe this was to show that given the right circumstances, even a good man can make a grave mistake. Even though we never see what happens later at school, the scene stayed with me for a bit with the slow movement of the camera on the teacher. Now, with the teacher this is all in just one moment and it seemed prior to this he has always gone the straight and narrow, but maybe Norton's 'moment' was deciding to sell weed at school, and then the rest just fell into place.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Man, I have no idea why I wasn't in this discussion thread sooner since I saw and loved the film quite awhile ago.

I also interpreted the daydream sequence as one of missed opportunity that ended the film on a downbeat and sad note. It could not have been more appropriate.

Yes, I also agree with this aspect strongly. It seemed rather obvious that this moment was a reconsideration on the F-U scene from earlier. And while Spike didn't create it, it does fit with a recurring theme in his work which is the acknowledgment of hate/racism but with a final note that we need to look beyond those emotions and perhaps consider the ideas that those emotions are created by greater struggles of the human condition itself. Certainly Monty was angry at the world not for what they were, but because he was losing it all and resentful of that fact.

But that's an aspect of Lee's work that I have always loved. Ironically seen as an "instigator" I think he is one of the few filmmakers to actually postulate some realistic reasons that racism/hate exist in our world. He's one of the few that seems to be trying to solve the problems by showing their true root cause.

Again and again in his films he shows people angry at each other but for all the wrong reasons, and he reflects on those wrong reasons at critical junctures within his films.



BTW, back to Mark's page 1 comment, I did see the same parallel between Monty/NYC post-911, in terms of both being battered and in a state of shock; just going through the paces until a grip on reality could be regained. A sense of shock and disbelief from the massive disaster in each circle of life.

I don't think (nor am I sure that Mark did) that it was a "metaphor" for 911 in the least, but rather using the broader canvas of NYC to metaphor for MONTY. So that those aspects of 911 that parallel Monty's situation are brought forth to enhance it. I do not think Spike was trying to say anything about 911 itself. It just happens that the NYC that Monty lives in (and Spike could have left 911 out since the book didn't involve it for obvious reasons) does have some things in common with what Monty and his friends are facing, though their problems are on a smaller scale. It seemed natural to include it to be honest and I felt it played in incredibly well as he used it.

I honestly can say that I thought Spike Lee should have been up for a Best Director spot with that film, and the utter dismissal by Oscar pundits confuses me. I mean Pepper and Hoffman certainly could have been mentioned as Supporting Actor candidates, especially Pepper's rich performance.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Thanks for the support Seth.
I know one of my fellow critics in our organization was a strong supporter of us naming Barry Pepper Best Supporting Actor, but not enough agreed with him.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm very disappointed that this film was never really given a fair chance to find a larger audience by perhaps being released at a different time. Hopefully, this excellent film will be discovered by others as it makes it way to video and television.




Crawdaddy

 

[Robert Crawford]

After spending a good portion of the weekend watching the dvd of this film a total of three times, it's very evident to me that this is my favorite film from 2002. The resaon why I watched the dvd three times was to see the film once again without any commentary then watching it with Spike Lee's commentary followed by another viewing with the screenwriter's commentary, who adopted his novel to the big screen.

For those that have a negative view of Spike Lee, I think you need to watch the featurette about him on the dvd as well as listen to his commentary. It's obvious that he has grown not only as a filmmaker but as a man too with a different outlook about people in general that might surprise some of you.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

How is the Spike commentary track, Robert? What does he mainly focus on?

This was one of my top ten films of 02, and I'll definitly be getting the DVD.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I actually was quite surprised by his audio commentary track as being one of the best and most informative by a director. As each character enters the film, Lee talks about the actor playing the character and how they got the role. He gives you a lot of insight as to the different location shoots as well as the motivation behind key scenes in the film. Lee believes a film project is a collaborative effort by the film crew along with the actors. Lee likes to share the credit with his DP, Set Designer, Film Editor and Film Composer. He has a very respectful attitude towards actors which is probably why several actors like working with him as many appear in more than one film of his. He is definitely an actor's director as he believes in rehearsal and giving an actor plenty of latitude in playing their character. Throughout the commentary his humor comes through and there were more than a few scenes in which I openly laughed at his comments. Also, you can really feel his love for New York City and the people of the city. Furthermore, he loves making films and telling stories which is probably why he teaches film at NYU and gives opportunities for many young film students to participate in his films.







Crawdaddy

 

[JonZ]

A little geography lesson......
"They drive past the bridge. It’s pretty clear what choice Monty made, unless you want to think his dad hooks a u-turn and goes back to the bridge, but I didn’t get that at all."
"I thought it was as explicit as possible without Monty saying, “just keep driving north, Pop.” Maybe that’s because I’m from the area and immediately recognized where they were going."
Except the directions Brian Cox gave to Otisville were very wrong. Its obvious to those who know the area that they were driving North but Brain Cox said to take the Taconic which is WAY out of the way. The Palisades to Route 17 or Palisades/Thuway/Route 17 is the way to go
I live about 20 minutes from Otisville.Its a small town west of where I live-Middletown(about a hour west of NYC)
David Berkowitz and George Jung(the guy Blow is based on) are there.
I watched this again last weekend and liked it quite a bit more the second time

 

[JeffLl]

I'm not even from NY, visited some though, and I thought the ending was obvious. He goes past the bridge and continues up the river. Case closed..but thanks for the info about Otisville. I didn't know that's where Jung is.