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.
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