Passing Strange

Directed by Spike Lee

(Not Rated)

****

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A concert film of the Tony-winning Broadway musical

Though not a traditional feature, Passing Strange is “one of Spike Lee’s best films,” said Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. The director first saw the stage version of this autobiographical rock musical—about a young African-American named Stew who sheds his past to find his voice—at New York’s Public Theater. Taken with Stew’s tale of adolescent rebellion and artistic self-discovery, Lee was determined to capture the thrilling production on film. In doing so, he has created the “very model of how to record a live performance.” His eye “proves both a benevolent and beneficial addition to the imaginative canvas” of Passing Strange, said Peter Marks in The Washington Post. Moving from wide shots to unwavering close-ups, his “restless camera” gives the story narrative balance. “Changes of angle and focus illuminate the emotional distance between hotheaded youth and rueful middle age,” said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. While I admired the play, I was “blown away” by Lee’s film. He not only preserves a wonderful show, but brings it to “its fullest, strangest, most electrifying realization.”