Crooklyn Movie Review

Crooklyn (1994)

Rent Crooklyn on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Joie Lee (story), Joie Lee and Spike Lee & Cinqué Lee (screenplay)
Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: Alfre Woodard, Delroy Lindo, Zelda Harris, Isaiah Washington, Spike Lee
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
Spike Lee's vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school teacher, her stubborn jazz musician husband, and their five kids living in Brooklyn in 1973.

Verdict
This is a movie that creates a mood, a vibe. Broadly it depicts what it was like growing up in the 70s, Specifically, it's life in Brooklyn as a girl. The downside of that is that the characters lack a goal, this movie isn't going anywhere, it's soaking in the production values of the time period. If I had more nostalgia for the time and place, I expect I'd like this more.
It depends.

Review
While Fellini's self inspired movie Amarcord premiered in the 70s, this style of a director helming something autobiographical seemed to reach a peak in the late twenty-tens and early twentys with Branagh's Belfast, Almodóvar's Pain and Glory, Cuarón's  Roma, and Spielberg's The Fabelmans.

This is a portal into the 70s. It feels completely authentic from the wardrobes, look, and especially the music. The soundtrack invokes the time period completely.

Through Troy (Zelda Harris) and her four brothers we see the ups and downs of her childhood; playing in the streets of the neighborhood until dinner, chores around the house, fighting with her brothers, eating black eyed peas, and arguments with neighbors. It's a big nostalgia trip, visiting Brooklyn back when.

Alfre Woodard, Delroy Lindo play Carolyn, Woody

That's what the kids see and remember, but the audience also sees their mother Carolyn (Alfre Woodard) going back to work teaching because their father Woody (Delroy Lindo) struggles as a musician. Money problems drive a wedge between the parents. She thinks he's irresponsible, and probably resentful she has to go to work because of it.

Troy stays the summer with relatives she barely knows. She doesn't want to and the South is a complete culture shock, not to mention her strict aunt. While the scenes in the South look distorted, that was intentional to convey Troy's sense of unfamiliarity. Theaters put up signs explaining the distorted images as patrons thought it was a technical error.

Upon returning home, Troy discovers her mother is sick and she assumes more responsibility around the house. It has to symbolic, this one last summer of playing in the street before she has to grow up and take on more responsibility. She's a child that has to take on the house work on an adult. The movie's goal is to transport us to a different time and show us what it was like growing up then, the movie does that. I'm sure I'd feel stronger about it if I had grown up during that time.