Done the Right Way

Spike Lee's first feature film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads and a documentary of the making of Do The Right Thing, both running at the Brattle Theater this weekend, provide a close look at the development and practice of one of America's most talented modern filmmakers. The hour-long documentary focuses on more than the technical details of filmmaking; it is concerned with the making of a provocative film in the context of its set (filmed on location in Brooklyn) and its time.

Making Do the Right Thing and Joe's

Bed-Stuy Barbershop

At the Brattle Theater

November 3 through 9

The first half-hour of Making 'Do The Right Thing' centers on the nine weeks of preparation for shooting: the refurbishing of old buildings, the construction of the pizzeria and the Korean grocery across the street (both built exclusively for the film), and interviews with local residents and cast members.

A sense of real-life drama that mirrors the film's content is revealed, almost by accident. An ambulance streaks down the street during an interview and our attention is directed to medics rushing into the neighboring apartments. In a later section, a woman speaks of sleeping on a doorstep all night to be first in line for the extras casting and how she constantly woke up in fear.

One of the more extraordinary subplots that develops is that of a teenage girl who gets a job cleaning trash off the streets after the day's filming. One day, after getting paid, she disappears and an older woman who kept an eye on her says she has left to do crack with the money she earned. The teenager returns several days later to resume her work, but the subject is never brought up again.

The reaction of the local residents to the filming is not always positive. There is a good deal of ambivalence toward the "rich Hollywood types." Several interviewees see the film's presence as an annoyance. They are disturbed by the awareness that all the good things the production has brought them (i.e. more police officers, clean streets and extra traffic lights) will disappear as soon as the film is over.

The second half of the film deals with the actual filming and alternates clips of Do The Right Thing with interviews of cast members, highlighting their attitudes about their characters' message and the messages of the film. This fascinating array of opinion is concluded best by Spike Lee's statement, "We just tried to go out for the truth without being concerned whether it was positive or negative."

The documentary provides an intriguing further look at Do The Right Thing and leaves one wishing the director, St. Clair Bourne, had not remained so objective in filming its making. Although Bourne's work lacks a strong opinion, the film adds an extra dimension from which to discuss Lee's 1989 release.

Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop, on the other hand, leaves us grateful it is only an hour long. It is no match for Spike Lee's later work. This is not to say it should be entirely dismissed, for it does allow some insight into his origins as a director.

The story is of a barbershop which doubles as a headquarters for playing the "numbers," an illegal lottery. Centering around the life of a barber, his wife--a social service worker, and a boy he takes on to help him in the shop, the film involves dealings with gangsters involved in the numbers game and a failed attempt to steal money from them and flee to Georgia.

Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop never becomes very gripping, perhaps because the dialogue and acting is excessively forced. The editing at times is also unnaturally jarring, for no apparent reason. However, there are moments of pure Spike Lee: when the barber awakens to a pair of gangsters looming over him in an unnerving point of view or when a young boy is taught by his older friend how to swear with the correct hand gestures.

The pair of films provide an informative look at Spike Lee's work, especially the documentary, which serves as a well-made epigraph to an exceptional film.