10 essential Spike Lee joints
Everything that you need to know about Spike Lee can be found in his movies. Whether he’s decrying racial injustice or shining a light on a misunderstood icon, Lee’s unique cinematic vision is as critical and insightful as the man himself is. His weighty subject matter and activist leanings might not make it obvious, but Lee has one main rule when it comes to films: make them entertaining.
No matter what he’s working on, Spike Lee has never made a boring film. With turn-on-a-dime editing and mile-a-minute dialogue being hallmarks of his style, Lee can bring ferocity and energy to even the most rote of subjects. History lessons turn into action movies in his hands. Social commentary becomes universal think pieces. Even Lee’s lesser films have that feeling of vitality to them: when Spike Lee is in charge, you know the final product is going to be fascinating.
Not every film that Lee directs is a “Spike Lee Joint”. The marker goes to films that are distinctly his. Lee usually acts as a director, writer, and producer on his films, giving him the full artistic autonomy that he craves. “[A Spike Lee Joint is] really all the ingredients that I put into my film,” Lee told The Atlantic in 2015. “Whatever film it is, whatever subject matter is. Whether it’s a documentary or a narrative film. The connective tissue is that it’s coming through me, but all the stories I feel are different.”
On the rare occasion where Lee doesn’t get full control, the “Joint” designator is dropped. That’s what happened with his 2013 film Oldboy, a remake of the 2003 South Korean film of the same name. The film was re-edited without Lee’s permission, leading to the rare credit of “A Spike Lee Film”. But that’s a rare case: you’d be hard-pressed to find a film from Lee that isn’t a Spike Lee Joint.
If you need to distil Lee’s voice into just ten films, we have you covered. Here are all of the essential Spike Lee Joints from across Lee’s career.
10 essential Spike Lee joints:
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
For his feature film debut, Lee pulled out all the stops. Channelling the fast-paced vocal cadence of Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, She’s Gotta Have It pushed in stories that mainstream Hollywood was too scared to cover in the mid-1980s. That includes stories about black America, sexual freedom, and lesbianism, just to name a few.
While it’s less fleshed-out than his subsequent work, there’s a palpable rawness to She’s Gotta Have It that Lee was never able to replicate. It was a landmark for independent cinema and launched Lee’s still-vital career. The movie also introduced Lee’s own iconic character, Mars Blackmon, who became a pop culture touchstone once he began appearing in Nike adverts with Michael Jordon.
School Daze (1988)
The idea of making a black version of Animal House was probably the pitch that Spike Lee used to get School Daze approved. But his ambitions were much grander: a potent commentary on everything from black-on-black colourism discrimination based on hair texture, School Daze packs in a ton of adult themes for what looks, at least on paper, like a college comedy.
Even more impressive is the cast of talented actors that Lee managed to pull in for his second feature: Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Ossie Davis, and one of the earliest screen appearances from Samuel L. Jackson. The style of the film puts it squarely in the late 1980s, but the themes in School Daze continue to resonate throughout the modern day.
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Spike Lee’s magnum opus isn’t just mandatory viewing for people interested in the director’s filmography: it’s mandatory viewing for every film fan. Taking place across a single scorching-hot day in Brooklyn, Do the Right Thing hones in on Lee’s unrivalled takedown of racism, fair treatment, and the tensions that erupt between different people.
Ducking away from easy messages, Lee crafts a thorny and difficult film that features real conflict and an all-too-familiar case of police brutality. As striking as it is timeless, Do the Right Thing will likely be the film that Lee is forever remembered for. But the older it gets, the more potent Do the Right Thing becomes.
Jungle Fever (1991)
Before the 1990s, Lee painted the relationships between races amid the background of conflict. But there’s another side to that as well: love, especially when it’s forbidden. Jungle Fever isn’t exactly a romantic depiction of interracial relationships: the amount of drugs, hate, homewrecking, and violence that follows isn’t for the faint of heart.
But Jungle Fever remains an enticing look into another subject that had long been ignored in mainstream cinema. With a star turn from Samuel L. Jackson and one of the all-time feel-bad endings in film, Jungle Fever is as captivating as it is blunt.
Malcolm X (1992)
It was a lifelong dream for Spike Lee to bring the story of Malcolm X to life. There was just one problem: the film rights to his life had already been sold, and Norman Jewison was already set to direct. Lee publicly protested, and when Jewison eventually left the project on his own accord, Lee was tapped to step in.
Malcolm X is a revelation. With some all-time best work from both Lee and Denzel Washington, the complicated story of Malcolm X is allowed space to breathe and unfold in full, with Washington bringing true compassion to one of Civil Rights’ most divisive figures. A story like Malcolm X’s seems almost too cinematic to be real, and only Lee could bring the right balance to his tragically short life.
Crooklyn (1994)
After the exhaustive historical weight around Malcolm X, Lee needed to do something lighter and more personal. Although Crooklyn brings in Lee’s signature takedowns of racism and drug use, its early 1970s setting, day-glo colour palate, and focus on childhood positions the film as one of Lee’s most welcoming features.
Alongside Lee’s singular cinematic voice is his sister, Joi Lee, who wrote the film’s story and serves as the inspiration behind the central character of Troy Charmichael. Tender and sweet while still being bizarre and rough-edged, Crooklyn is at once the most child-like and grown-up of Lee’s films.
When the Levee Broke (2006)
While his work as a narrative film director gets the most focus, Lee has carved out a solid side gig as a documentary film director. Films like Freak and The Original Kings of Comedy proved that Lee had a solid eye for turning stage performances into films, it was his work on films like 4 Little Girls that found Lee tapping into the profundity of real-life tragedy.
No film in Lee’s oeuvre is more filled with heartbreak or stark reality than When the Levee Broke, a four-part documentary detailing the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana. Lee never shies away from the devastation, but When the Levee Broke is more interested in the resilience and perseverance of the people who survived than in eulogizing those that didn’t.
He Got Game (1998)
Even when he’s not at the top of his game, Lee knows how to pull the best out of people. For example, a movie like He Got Game should not work. Pairing actors with real-life athletes should have spelt disaster for the film, and Lee’s portrait of incarcerated father figure Jake Shuttlesworth could be one of the thorniest and most complex in the entire Lee filmography.
And yet, He Got Game rises above. Ray Allen has no reason to be as good as he is, bringing a sensitivity to a rising basketball star. Washington makes sure that the faults of Jake are on full display, including his shortcomings as a father. The results will hardly be heartwarming, but He Got Game is certainly a fearless take on absentee parentage and the pressures of fulfilling family dreams.
Bamboozled (2000)
The worst-looking film in Lee’s canon might also be his best. For whatever reason, Lee decided to film his unrelenting satire Bamboozled with Mini DV digital video cameras. The results look god-awful, especially when put up against Lee’s other films. But just like everything in Bamboozled, it might have actually worked in the film’s favour.
Lee’s most aggressively subversive film to date features a premise that seems nearly impossible to reckon with: a modern-day minstrel show. Somehow, Lee is able to wring comedy, tragedy, drama, and timeless social commentary out of the images that remain surprising, if not shocking, to see in a modern film. While it could have used a defter hand, Bamboozled is probably the bravest and most visceral film that Lee will ever make.
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
It was legacy time for Spike Lee. After three decades of dominating cinema, Lee still had little in the way of establishment recognition. Other than the action thriller Inside Man, none of Lee’s films had been blockbusters. He was one of the most important directors of his generation, but he had no Oscars or even that many nominations.
BlacKkKlansman rectified that egregious oversight, but here’s the thing: it didn’t win nearly enough. Featuring his best blend of racial commentary and pure Hollywood entertainment, BlacKkKlansman saw Lee hit new heights as a filmmaker. And the Academy thought Green Book was a better choice for Best Picture? An absolute travesty.
