I was only 17 when this film first premiered. Watching it for the (?)th time on the Fox Theater’s huge screen, I was, as always, struck by its power and significance. Honestly, I don’t know that this film could or would be released today. Set on the hottest day in Brooklyn, New York, it explores the racial tensions bubbling to the surface amongst the neighborhood’s black, white, Hispanic, and Asian inhabitants, culminating in the death of Bill Nunn’s character Radio Rahim and a riot not unlike the Watts riots of the 1960′s and the 1992 L.A. riots which followed only three years after the film’s release. Raising many questions about racism and racial tolerance, the film offers no concrete answers or resolutions, but only Ossie Davis’ prophetic advice to Spike Lee’s character Mookie to “always do the right thing.” During the Q&A, Spike mentioned that there was pressure on him in Hollywood to prove a solution and tidy ending to the film, but he held fast to his vision, allowing the audience to ponder the issues raised and discuss them. Although Spike has never won an Oscar for his films, he says his “reward” has been the fact that this film has and is being taught in universities and institutions worldwide. The panelists also mentioned how many doors Spike has opened and influenced younger filmmakers of color such as John Singleton, Gina Prince-Blythewood, F. Gary Gray, and Darnell Martin. Certainly, Do the Right Thing has a place in cinematic history for decades to come.

The protagonist Daigo is a cellist living with his wife in Tokyo. When he gets laid off from his orchestra, he decides to give up being a professional cellist and moves back to his hometown, living with his wife in his late mother’s house. Upon looking for a job, he answers a job ad for working with “departures,” no experience necessary. Thinking the job has something to do with travel, he applies for the job and is instantly hired by the “boss.” Only then does he learn that the job ad had a misprint and the job is working with the “departed.”

In Japan, when there is a death in the family, the body is prepared in front of loved ones before it is placed in a coffin and eventually cremated. Daigo’s new job is to prepare the bodies. It’s not a gruesome process as we might think here in America and does not involve embalming, but is more ritualistic, including the dressing of the body in the person’s favorite outfit and applying make-up so that the person looks their best as they pass into their new eternal life. Still, in Japanese culture, such job is considered to be the lowliest of all jobs and so Daigo’s acceptance of the work is on a trial basis and Daigo does not tell his wife exactly what he is doing. Daigo soon discovers, as “the boss” projects, that he likes the job and that he is good at it. Through this work he is able to help families through their grief and achieve a sense of purpose that he did not seemingly have before.

By moving back home and taking on this employment, Daigo is also forced to examine his feelings for his father, who abandoned him as a child, and to examine his relationship with his wife as they build their family for the future. The film is funny and disarming, and, even in the face of loss, does not leave you sad or melancholy. When we make peace with the dead and say goodbye properly, we prepare ourselves to keep living.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Or does it explode?
–Langston Hughes

Just as little brown boys in America have hoop dreams of becoming the next Michael Jordan, little brown boys in the Dominican Republic dream of taking the field in Yankee stadium like the next Roberto Clemente (or maybe Vic Pellot “Power”). Such is the dream of pitcher Miguel “Sugar” Santos who we first meet at a Kansas City Royals training camp in the DR. Boys who train there have big dreams of going to America to play professional ball and provide financial support for their families. That is the dream Sugar’s widowed mother has for her son. It seems Sugar’s dreams are about to come true when he is called up to spring training. He does well there and eventually ends up in Iowa playing for a feeder team. And so begins the tale of a stranger in a strange land where baseball, corn, and Jesus rule. Sugar can’t understand or speak English fluently and so his isolation is palpable. However, his ability to pitch a flawless game is all he needs to to communicate. But then his game begins to falter and the language barrier, cultural isolation, and frustration become increasingly unbearable and Sugar’s dream seems to be slipping away. And so Sugar leaves before his dream is snatched away. He heads to New York, recalibrating his dream and expectations in a place where immigrants, even baseball hopefuls, have cast their lot since this country was born.

Sugar was made by the same husband and wife duo who made the critically acclaimed Half Nelson. Apparently enamored of sports and/or wrestling holds, these filmmakers are not about the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. Their true knack is their ability to play up the little dramas and subtleties of every day life such that they reverberate with you long after the credits roll. [I also give them big ups for giving a shout out to one of my favorite bands TV on the Radio.]