Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is a bold piece within the esteemed directors body of work
Spike Lee’s crowd funded Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is a bold piece within the esteemed director’s body of work. But, with its strong visuals, its story features slight flaws that restrain it from stretching its legs emotionally.
Doesn't lack ambition
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus can rely too much on its unusual narrative arc, but at the same time, it's enjoyable to see a movie blatantly unashamed of what it is. It's always nice to see Lee, known for never shying away from controversy, making a movie that boasts such an “out there” storyline of a man addicted to blood, and going to great lengths to feed his addiction. You can't accuse Da Sweet Blood of Jesus of lacking ambition, but it does come up short when satisfying on an emotional level, whilst it can be seen as intellectual piece of independent moviemaking.
Dr. Hess Green, played by Stephen Tyrone Williams (The Children of God, Phil Spector), is introduced to a mysteriously cursed artifact by an art curator, Lafayette Hightower (Elvis Nolasco). Green is uncontrollably drawn into a newfound thirst for blood that overwhelms his soul. He, and this movie however, is not a vampire story. Lafayette quickly succumbs to the ravenous nature of the infliction but leaves Hess a transformed man. Soon Lafayette’s wife, Ganja Hightower (Zaraah Abrahams), comes looking for her husband and becomes involved in a dangerous romance with Hess that questions the very nature of love, addiction, sex, and status in our seemingly sophisticated society.
backing the mule
On the 21st August 2013, The Newest Hottest Spike Lee Joint (the title used during its Kickstarter campaign) reached its funding goal of $1,250,000 thanks to more than 5,000 backers, with filmmaker Steven Soderbergh being one of Lee’s most generous investors. Yet, media outlets like CNBC and Bloomberg accused Lee of abusing Kickstarter and taking money from other creators.
Kickstarter is where projects compete for pledges and benefit from the network structure of the site. Lee's notoriety and fan base brought the casual or intrigued user to Kickstarter when the project launched. He opened the eyes to those who were unaware, or even, intimidated by this new way of funding creativity. Of all the 5,000 of his backers, 47% had never backed a Kickstarter project before. So, for all the unnecessary criticism he received, it had a positive effect upon crowd funding that can only benefit independent filmmaking. It's almost the same effect Lee had on a generation of filmmakers when his debut movie, She's Gotta Have It, broke through and became a key film in the American independent movement in the ‘80s.
For all its unanswered questions and loose ends, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is a thrilling movie, jammed packed with an urgency that Lee harvests through his lead Dr. Green. It will defy anyone who may be put off this movie because Lee hasn't gone through a studio to make it, but those low expectations will be raised as the film progresses and shows it was worth “backing the mule,” as Lee put it in his campaign video.
