Aysia Starr Crooklyn Blog

“Crooklyn” follows the story of the Carmichael family struggle to stay together as one as they experience a unique summer in their overpopulated yet comforting Brooklyn neighborhood, nicknamed Crooklyn. The nickname is symbolic to the actual city, which depicts crime. However, there wasn't much crime in the film at all. It’s set in the summer of 1973 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, where Lee himself grew up. Nine-year-old Troy Carmichael (Zelda Harris) is the only girl in a brood that includes four rowdy brothers. Though often put-upon and teased, Troy is tough, clever, funny and every bit the daughter of her equally strong-willed mother, Carolyn (a radiant Alfre Woodard). More so than any other film Lee has directed, Crooklyn is wholly interested in the inner-life, motivations and perspective of its female characters. Even Woody (Delroy Lindo), the family patriarch and easily the most fleshed out male character in the joint still feels like an afterthought compared to how focused the narrative is on Troy and Carolyn. When Troy goes to visit relatives over the summer, Lee employs when this film happens to be discussed technique of altering the framing.  The picture looks squeezed together, meant to represent how Troy, a born-and-raised New Yorker experiences the expansive suburbs of the American South. It’s incredibly distracting, but also endearing as it’s an example of how the movie isn’t afraid to be fully in this girl’s journey. Troy comes home to a tragic event, leading to her spike in responsibilities, and with a household of boys, all of the weight lies on her. Lee's choice of actors is a complete success. The children seem like siblings, and interact in a natural, habituated way. Alfre Woodard, as Carolyn, finds the right balance between wife, mother, and overtaxed human being. She makes the character into a good person without ever laying it on too thick. Delroy Lindo is a surprise as the father. There are scenes late in the film where Woody's tact and empathy have to fill enormous voids, and they do.

"Crooklyn" is not a neat package with a tidy payoff at the end. It contains the messiness of life. As it ends, the children are still children, and whatever life holds for them is still ahead. Most movies about children insist on arriving at a conclusion, when childhood is a beginning. This film is not in any way an angry film, but thinking about the difference between its world and ours can make you angry, and I think that was one of Lee's purposes here. For this reason, I recommend everyone to see this movie so you can see Lee’s bigger picture.