The new Spike Lee film called "Da New Yawk Joint" (great title) is one I'm really looking forward to seeing. Who better than a director of Spike's stature and experience, who is so clearly well-versed in all things NYC, to bring this project to life?
If there's any filmmaker as passionate and knowledgeable about New York City, it's Spike Lee. I've loved his films since day one and feel that no one can capture the physical, emotional and psychological make-up of this great city better than this man. With the city rapidly transforming before our eyes, gentrification pervading every avenue and street corner, I find it sometimes challenging to see the very character (what made this city so special) being almost completely driven out by the wealthy millennial market and Trump-like towers of mirrored emptiness. Spike's movies put my anxieties to rest. Mo Better Blues was the first film by Spike that I saw, due in no small part to the music of Terence Blanchard, who introduced me to a handful of other notable jazz musicians emerging at the same time: Branford Marsalis, Jeff Tain Watts, the late Kenny Kirkland and Donald Harrison, to name a few. Terence has worked on most, if not all, Spike's films as well, and has collaborated with a group of other talented directors as well. In this upcoming film I'm hoping (and am completely confident) that Spike will help people remember what continues to make this city so magical and the "greatest in the world." New York. My forever home. Watch with me?
40 acres and A Mule Filmworks. "Da New Yawk Joint" Online Video Clip. Vimeo. Vimeo 29 Oct 2015 9 Nov 2015
