With Lee’s first three films, it is obvious that this man has a passion for music. With his fourth film, “Mo’ Better Blues”, Lee takes on this passion fully and it is a treat for us viewers and lovers of Jazz. Interestingly, this is a film about passion, that is the life of a passionate person. Like many prolific scholars, artists, and writers Denzel Washington’s character, Bleek, makes everything secondary to his music. He is self-absorbed using two woman, both of whom he seems to love, only when HE needs them. Anyone out there who has experienced a person like Bleek, whose every move revolves around his or her job, hobby or love, will appreciate this film.
This is Spike Lee’s first full-fledged dram. Generally I enjoyed this movie, though not as much as “Do the Right Thing”. (I know, its always dangerous and rarely right to compare a director’s films with one another, it’s best to take them individually). I enjoyed how closely the music reflected the mood. the pain as Bleek strained to play a year after he was beat up, the dizzying scene when he could not tell who he was in bed with and the scene when he was lying on the floor with headphones on and scattered albums all around him. I also was happy that Lee went full-circle and went ahead in time at the end of the film to show us how things turn out in the future. This is an very simple and often considered “corny” technique in film making, however I think it is underused and completes a story.
A last thought, Spike Lee seems to develop one character in each of his films (in this film it is Bleek) so well, that the other characters seem of little importance.
Cast
- Denzel Washington — Bleek Gilliam
- Spike Lee — Giant
- Wesley Snipes — Shadow Henderson
- Giancarlo Esposito — Left Hand Lacey
- Robin Harris — Butterbean Jones
- Joie Lee — Indigo Downes
- Bill Nunn — Bottom Hammer
- John Turturro — Moe Flatbush
- Dick Anthony Williams — Big Stop Williams
- Cynda Williams — Clarke Bentancourt
- Nicholas Turturro — Josh Flatbush
- Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts — Rhythm Jones
- Samuel L. Jackson — Madlock
- Leonard L. Thomas — Rod
- Charlie Murphy — Eggy
- Coati Mundi – Roberto