NFL
By: Matt Overton
The Seventh Joint
Crooklyn is a semi-autobiographical film inspired by Spike Lee’s childhood. It is a portrait of a loving Black family in 1970s Brooklyn: the mother, Carolyn (Alfre Woodard), is an overworked schoolteacher, the father, Woody (Delroy Lindo), is a struggling jazz musician, and the five children stay busy getting up to plenty of mischief. Released in 1994, Crooklyn has only become more of a period piece as time goes on, and I really enjoyed the experience of watching a movie that depicted an America of such a specific time and place.
The oldest boy named Clinton is immediately identifiable as Spike due to his funkily sized glasses and always being draped in NY Knicks gear. But the movie isn’t framed from his perspective at all; instead, Crooklyn focuses on the youngest child, the only girl, Troy. The story remains fixed on the family as a whole, but a lot of the character development and major emotional moments are centered around Troy’s coming of age.
The story plays out loosely, with scenes edited together that are often not related to one another. It bounces around between the children, parents, friends, and the neighborhood. There’s some great music that ties it all together. Crooklyn has a great sense of identity, being firmly placed in Brooklyn in the ‘70s. Assuming Spike is drawing from memories here, there are some interesting moments that I’m glad he included because they contribute interesting dialogue to relevant societal issues, but then there are quite a few other scenes that I struggle to understand why they were included.
Crooklyn is an extremely goofy film, especially so when infused with Spike’s infectious energy. Since most of the protagonists are pre-pubescent, the conflicts throughout are childish but in a fun way. The kids are constantly bickering with each other, calling each other names, and throwing shots, arguing about who gets the Trix or who gets to use the TV. The family dynamic is very entertaining and usually loud. I found myself becoming very endeared to all of them, especially Carolyn and her tough but tender motherly love.
This is a chaotic but relatively straightforward domestic drama. It often loses steam and becomes too distracted with random vignettes that detract from the cohesive family story. Not sure if Spike needed to write himself into this one as a wandering glue-huffer, but I’m sure a fella was matching that description who he grew up around. Crooklyn is a touching view into Spike Lee’s upbringing, although it does meander quite a bit.
