Spike Lee‘s Chi-Raq came together before we could hardly take notice. Less than six months after casting announcements were made, we’re looking at a December theatrical and, courtesy of Amazon Studios, VOD release, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a rushed, compromised, or small-scale project. If the first trailer serves as a proper indication, this is the sort of loose, crazy Lee we recently saw return in Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, this time with a clear-as-day political satire on his mind. What results could be electrifying.
Depending on how much you want your social commentary to be steeped in Greek myth (specifically Lysistrata) and (if I’m not being misled) some sort of Brechtian fantasy, that is. Well, I like it, and the list of assembled players — Samuel L. Jackson, Wesley Snipes, Nick Cannon, Jennifer Hudson, Teyonah Parris, D.B. Sweeney, Harry Lennix, Steve Harris, Angela Bassett, and Dave Chappelle (?) — certainly doesn’t hurt matters. The Hateful Eight notwithstanding, this is the only remotely wide holiday release I can bother giving a damn about.
Take a look below (via IMDb):
Chi-Raq is a modern day adaptation of the ancient Greek play “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes. After the murder of a Child by a stray bullet, a group of women led by Lysistrata organize against the on-going violence in Chicago’s Southside creating a movement that challenges the nature of race, sex and violence in America and around the world.
Chi-Raq opens in limited release on December 4th.