A famous outsider turns 60
Black filmmakers are struggling, as usual, for opportunities in Hollywood, though there has been some improvement with the recent successes of Barry Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Steve McQueen and others. #OscarsSoWhite was a rallying cry, but imagine how white Hollywood was in the 1980s, when a young upstart named Spike Lee demanded entrance into the system with the surprise box office clout of the low-budget, black-and-white comedy “She’s Gotta Have It.”
Before Lee, there hadn’t been a black filmmaker who had found consistent mainstream success in Hollywood (the artist and photographer Gordon Parks came the closest). But starting with “Do the Right Thing,” Lee became an undeniable force in the industry, creating opportunities not only for himself — “Malcolm X,” “Clockers,” “25th Hour,” “Inside Man” — but also for other filmmakers of color.
And yet, as he turns 60 years old on Monday, March 20, he in many ways remains an outsider. His lengthy filmography includes documentaries and concert films, but he still has a consistently difficult time getting feature films made — no African American director in recent years has made a more timely film than his last feature, “Chi-Raq,” but the movie barely got a release in 2015.
The Roxie Theater understands this dichotomy, celebrating Lee’s career with double features this weekend that pair rock-solid classics with underappreciated gems.
“Do the Right Thing,” Lee’s 1989 breakthrough that lit the tinderbox that is racial tension in America, is one of the most influential films of the last 30 years. Delightfully, the 7 p.m. Saturday, March 18, screening is followed by “Crooklyn” (1994), based on Lee’s Brooklyn childhood in the 1970s and the most sweetly sentimental film he has ever made.
On Sunday, March 19, a rare screening of 1992’s “Malcolm X” (4 p.m.) — with Denzel Washington as the civil rights activist — is paired with “Bamboozled” (2000), a brave and edgy satire of black artists in a white-dominated entertainment industry (Damon Wayans is a TV executive who hilariously develops a minstrel show, with black actors in blackface, to spite his white bosses).
Seeing those four films together is a reminder of how varied Lee’s talent can be, and a testament to the strength of his unique voice.
For details, go to www.roxie.com. “Conceiving Ada”: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ celebration of Bay Area artist Lynn Hershman Leeson — on the front lines of the feminist art revolution that began in the 1960s — encompasses both a gallery retrospective of her varied artworks and a series screening all four of her feature films. Next up is her intriguing feature debut, “Conceiving Ada” (1997), in which a modern-day computer scientist (Francesca Faridany) finds herself communicating with 19th century mathematician Ada Lovelace (Tilda Swinton), a real-life figure who is credited with writing the first computer algorithm. Also starring Karen Black. Ticket buyers ($10) also receive admittance to the Lynn Hershman Leeson gallery retrospective. The artist will also receive the San Francisco International Film Festival’s Persistence of Vision award next Month. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St., S.F. (415) 978-2787. www.ybca.org “Legally Black” and “Legally Blonde”: The new Peaches Christ production “Legally Black,” starring Bob the Drag Queen, issues a fair warning: “This show has heavy use of stage fog and strobe lights.” The production parodies and precedes a screening of the 2001 Reese Witherspoon comedy “Legally Blonde.” 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, March 18. From $30. The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., S.F. (415) 621-6120. www.peacheschrist.com