FILM REVIEWS

School Daze C+

Following his “guerrilla filmmaking” debut, School Daze (1988) was financed by Columbia with no interference, making Spike Lee the first black director to be ever given complete artistic control.

With an all-black ensemble, Lee's musical comedy addresses satirically class and color divisions within a black college where affluent light-skinned “gammas” clash with the underclass dark-skinned “jigaboos.”

School Daze proved that a film about African-Americans could succeed–redeeming a history of stereotypical images from authentic experience. Despite Columbia's poor promotion and unenthusiastic reviews, the film grossed more than twice its cost.

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Film reviews and Internet movie reviews by film critic Emanuel Levy. This film review database contains thousands of movie reviews on many different film genres along with profiles of your favorite movie stars and film directors. You can also find movie reviews of independent cinema shown in festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival, foreign film reviews as well as DVD reviews. Movie critic Emanuel Levy is known for his accurate Oscar predictions, so be sure to visit the Oscar News section.