BlacKKKlansman and Crazy Rich Chinese - Rediscovering Going Out To See Movies

Last Tuesday, it was rainy and I suggested we go see BlacKKKlansman.  The theater isn't far, but it was raining, but worse we fooled around and didn't have time to walk.  And when we got there, the lines were long.  But when we got to the front we were surprised that the tickets on Tuesday were only $5.75.  And then, inside, the seats were leather-like recliners.  Hmmmm, the theater wants to woo us away from Netflix.  Or at least to share some of our Netflix time.

BlacKKKlansman's - that's getting to be a hassle to type out - biggest draw was that it was a Spike Lee movie.  But I have to say it was basically a slick detective flick, but with a black point of view.  And the ending - with the scenes that yelled out:  Hey, this is relevant today - look, here's David Duke being pals with Trump - were not great film making, but I understand Lee's feeling that his point might be over people's heads.  At least the people who needed his message.

Tonight we walked over and saw "Crazy Rich Chinese".  I've following EJR David's discussions of Filipino and other brown Asians being the hidden Asians, lost in the word Asian.  And here you can read  a Singaporean writer of Gujarati descent view of how darker skinned Singaporeans are depicted in the movie.  The debate over what any specific movie needs to cover - especially when it represents people not normally represented in Hollywood - is to be expected.  No one can make a film that represents everyone the way the want to be represented.  The idealist answer is to let each filmmaker make tell their own story.  But that assumes others have access to make a film and gain major distribution of it.  After all, "Crazy Rich Chinese" is one of the few Hollywood movies to have such a predominantly Chinese cast.  How do the various Indian groups, the Arabs, and Peranakan gain access to Hollywood resources to tell their stories?

I hope Trump skips this movie.  It makes him look like a low-rent developer, and that might piss him off and lead to a war with Singapore.  And as Trump starts to realize that his Singaporean meeting with Kim Jun-un was big win for Kim and a big loss for Trump . .   I'll leave that to your imaginations.

[UPDATE Sept 5:  A reader emailed to point out that the name of the movie is "Crazy Rich Asians".  Yes, of course.  But I was trying to call people's attention to EJR David's criticism that it's not about "Asians" but about Chinese, and that the term Asians often means East Asians, not darker skinned Asians like Filipinos and Indians and Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.  ]