a review of 耶稣哒圣血

HOOPTOBER, NIGHT TWENTY: I feel like on paper, I should have enjoyed this one a bit more than the original, considering Spike Lee's considerable skills as both a filmmaker and all-around storyteller. This one feels like an experiment in tone for Lee, since he basically cleaves to both the script and scene-by-scene structure of Bill Gunn's 1973 film Ganja & Hess, even in cases where he could have perhaps taken a stronger hand in the adaptation. On the other hand, Lee is fairly ruthless about discarding the psychedelic grittiness of the older film, replacing it with a digital slickness and quietude; It does a good deal more to convey the main character's wealth and social isolation, but also feels weirdly sterile. Ultimately, I found it to be a mixed bag on a thematic level. By and large, this version is still very much concerned with the same themes about cultural assimilation and self-destruction as in the original. Lee adds a few scenes that emphasize present-day concerns over blood-borne disease, and makes a one notable change to the particulars of the vampiric curse that I thought somewhat undercut the premise. It's an interesting enough change that I wish that Lee had developed it just a little bit more.