What a crazy night in Brooklyn!
Spike Lee, loyal to a fault to his home borough and neighborhood, brought his “Highest 2 Lowest” to the Brooklyn Academy of Music last night.
Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Rocky ASAP, and John Douglas Thompson star along with La Chanze, Michael Potts, Wendell Pierce, and New York’s favorite actor, Dean Winters, who plays a cop channeling Winters’ crazy insurance commercials. Everyone was there in the beautiful theater usually used for live plays.
I sat with legendary folk singer Judy Collins, who’s lately bonded with Spike because her long musical association with his late father, Bill Lee. We were in a neat area that included rapper Slick Rick, Keegan Michael Key and his b.w. Elle Key, plus Don Lemon.
The late Salsa musician Eddie Palmieri, a true legend, is featured heavily in a breathtaking sequence in the movie. Eddie passed a short time ago, but his son – Eddie the Second — spoke before the screening and was so hilarious that he almsot gave away the movie. Spike had to give him the hook (in a good way) before he went too far!
“Highest 2 Lowest” is called a love letter to New York, and certainly looks amazing thanks to Matthew Libatique’s extraordinary cinematography — giving the remake of this Akira Kurosawa movie the feel of Woody Allen’s best work. There’s also a stunning score — also Oscar worthy — from Howard Drossin.
Spike has update Kurosawa’s original film so that now Denzel plays David King, a rap music mogul on top of the world. Literally: he and his wife and son live at the vertigo producing pinnacle of a Brooklyn skyscraper overlooking Manhattan and the East River. The film opens with Gordon MacRae’s performance of “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” as the camera spins around New York showing off its magnificence. But it’s also to show that David King is king of his world.
Right away, there’s a kidnapping of Denzel’s son mixed up with the son of Jeffrey Wright (in one of his usual scene stealing turns). Solving that plot is the main story, but then “Highest 2 Lowest” becomes an action movie, a thriller, a philosophical meditation. There are also a lot of laughs, don’t worry. The humor leavens what seem like dire circumstances so the audience knows this will all work out. But why are these events in motion?
ASAP Rocky plays a sketchy rapper who comes in during the second half of the film, and pulls the rug out from underneath everyone. Rocky will be the surprise of the season.
There’s an absolutely breathtaking action sequence in this film that involves Eddie Palmieri and band playing live, the subway above Yankee Stadium– with Yankees fan and cameo player Nicholas Turturro, Dean Winters on a police chase, not to mention exquisitely choreographed thieves on mopeds dressed in black that rivals any of Spike Lee’s other legendary set pieces (including Samuel L. Jackson and Halle Berry in “Jungle Fever” set to Stevie Wonder). We’re going to watch that a few times.
Denzel: he’s one name now. He can do no wrong. Even with Jeffrey Wright seriously trying to pull attention as the second banana, Denzel does a slow build with David King. He seems very unlikable at first, but as the screenplay evolves, so does David. Denzel — who made “Gladiator II” such a pleasure — knows to pay out his charms slowly. By the time he builds to a crescendo, you see what greatness on film can be. When David lists off a list of his favorite R&B singers, grinning from ear to ear, he’s got us in the palm of his hand.
“Highest 2 Lowest” isn’t perfect. There’s a tagged on end scene I could have done without. A little trimming would have helped the whole enterprise. But this is Spike Lee’s summer gift to us, and we are very grateful.
