Film Review: "BlacKkKlansman" is hilarious, but it's no joke
BlacKkKlansman is an agile dramatic comedy. Writer/director Spike Lee is back on form after a string of duds; in fact, not since Do The Right Thing – a similarly funny, searing indictment on race relations in modern America – has Lee been so on point. It’s a joy to behold, even though it often leaves you feeling slightly sick.
Set in the early ‘70s, BlacKkKlansman tells the true story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), the first black cop on the Colorado Springs Police Department. He, along with Detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), formulate a plan to infiltrate the white supremacist organisation, the Ku Klux Klan. Stallworth is the guy on the phone doing his best white man affect, and Zimmerman is the man on the ground. They’re undercover operation proves to be so effective that they even manage to cosy up to the Grand Wizard, David Duke (Topher Grace).
While the plot is ripe for thrilling, tense, and funny little scenarios – and boy do you get a lot of those – it’s Lee’s perspective on the material that proves to be the most fascinating aspect of all. He imbues BlacKkKlansman with a particular sort of tension. As in, while the white supremacists are often buffoonish and sad, the threat they pose is real -- never less than frightening, actually. At any rate, the film’s deep reservoirs of derision for these bozos is a comedy treat.
The impeccable editing of the film sharpens Lee’s point of view. An old black man (Harry Belafonte) tells horrifying stories of the bloody and racially motivated violence inspired by the Klan propaganda film, The Birth of The Nation. His stories are received with solemnity and grief and disgust. Intercut with this scene are gowned Klansmen hooting and hollering at a private screening of The Birth of The Nation. It’s so intentionally tonally jarring, as their silly giggles and rambunctious hollers take on this serrated edge commensurate with Belafonte’s increasingly painful tales. It’s like traversing two realities simultaneously; of course, that’s exactly what it is. But only one reality is rooted in facts and generational pain. When people say America is fractured, I imagine these two irreconcilable realities is what is meant by that.
The performances are all naturalistic and authentic, with not one among the cast delivering a false note. Even the Klansman are textured and just shy of cartoonish. Of course, it’d be too easy and disingenuous if they were merely overwrought clowns. Topher Grace steals the show, though, as David Duke. He weaponises his innately smug screen presence to brilliant effect, making for a memorable portrayal of a dangerous, self-assured moron.
BlacKkKlansman is a buoyant buddy-cop caper, a loving homage to Blaxploitation films, and an intelligent conversation with the past and the present. This might be set in the early ‘70s, but its resonance is perfectly calibrated for talking about what’s happening now – look to those devastating final minutes for evidence of that. This Spike Lee joint is easily one of the year’s best.
