
Film
Jungle Fever
- Director
- Spike Lee
- Certificate
- 18
- Running Time
- 126 mins
Back in 1991, Spike Lee set out to make an interracial love story, examining the repercussions of a relationship between black architect Wesley Snipes and Italian-American temp Annabella Sciorra. Alas, the dice are stacked against them not because of racism but because Wesley is a stereotypical junior executive screwing his secretary at the expense of his noble, long-suffering wife. If Annabella were black, the drama wouldn’t be any different. Much better is the film’s Italian story, the true hero being Annabella’s put-upon anti-racist ex-boyfriend John Turturro. Eventually, Lee gives up completely on the main characters and annoyingly switches the focus onto Wesley’s loser crack-addict brother. Stuck with an irritating Stevie Wonder score and too many ideas for its own good, Jungle Fever suffers greatly from its director’s mix of sloppiness and self-righteousness, tainting its undeniably brilliant moments with stretches that stubbornly fail to work.
https://youtu.be/De5F8n3iduk
It’s back on screen to conclude the Watershed’s Summer of Spike August Sunday brunch season of Spike Lee flicks to complement the release of BlacKkKlansman.
is needed now More than ever