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Summer of Sam

1999

Spike Lee

John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito ...

6.6

3,468

Mystery. Thriller. Drama 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 South Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.

	Author	Review
United States	Todd McCarthy Variety	"'Summer of Sam' is never less than absorbing but feels just a bit like yesterday's news, both narratively and cinematically."	NEU
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"'Summer of Sam' vibrates with fear, guilt and lust (...) Rating; ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"What Lee does make are films that provoke audiences instead of coddling them. Sounds like the right thing to me."	POS
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"Perhaps the most remarkable achievement is the lead performance of John Leguizamo (...) The breadth and energy are impressive"	POS
United States	Rita Kempley The Washington Post	"The script recalls Lee's superb urban parable 'Do the Right Thing', but this bleak, sluggishly paced effort never achieves that film's fierce clarity"	NEU
United States	Janet Maslin The New York Times	"Credible plotting doesn't always come easily to Mr. Lee, but wild verve does (...) [It] makes up in fury much of what it lacks in form"	NEU
United Kingdom	Alex von Tunzelmann The Guardian	"A skillfully made and evocative portrait of New York City in the summer of 1977, but it feels like a more coherent – and more interesting – story is hovering just out of reach."	NEU
United Kingdom	Kim Newman Empire	"An enormously energetic, flavourful film (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Keith Phipps AV Club	"'Summer Of Sam' is Lee at his best, a virtuoso piece of filmmaking that's stylish, substantial, and rich in detail"	POS
United States	Paul Clinton CNN	"[A] brilliant piece of filmmaking (...) This movie sizzles with the heat generated by the performances of Leguizamo, Brody and especially Sorvino"	POS
United States	Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly	"If you want to learn about the serial killer David Berkowitz (...) look elsewhere. In 'Summer of Sam', Spike Lee isn’t interested in truth — or coherence, for that matter"	NEG
United Kingdom	John Ferguson Radio Times	"The scenes involving Berkowitz are disturbingly creepy, and Lee successfully evokes the seedy side of the late 70s, thanks chiefly to the fantastic soundtrack (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS

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