The Emory Cinematheque Presents: 25th Hour

The Emory Cinematheque Presents: 25th Hour December 2 at 7:30 p.m. in White Hall 208 2002 | 135 min. | 35mm Directed by Spike Lee Dr. Mark Cunningham: https://admc.austincc.edu/rtf/mark-d-cunningham/ (Austin Community College)

“Cornered by the DEA, convicted New York drug dealer Montgomery Brogan reevaluates his life in the 24 remaining hours before facing a seven-year jail term” (25th Hour logline). Based on David Benioff’s book of the same title, Spike Lee’s 25th Hour pays homage to the city of New York post 9/11. “Lee spans all of the five boroughs in this film. In his visits to Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan and the Bronx, his camera focuses on symbols that glorify the richest city in the nation. Lady Liberty gets a shot from a Staten Island spot. The Brooklyn Bridge connects with Manhattan in a passing glance. Queens has its moments, too” (New York Amsterdam News). Beams of light shine where the twin towers stood in Manhattan and seeming chants and sounds of the Middle East create the introductory sonic.

The Afro-American Red Star calls it “both artsy and sophisticated, yet …also earthy and super realistic.” Made on a budget of five million, the domestic and worldwide earnings quadrupled its production costs. Lee and actor Edward Norton had talked about working together for several years before both received the project. Benioff had already written the script.

Entertainment journalist David McCullough writes that meditating “on innocence. ‘25thHour’ finds Spikereminiscing on some of his finest work” (Call & Post). Film scholar Mikal Gaines believes in the film, Lee offers “a compelling and informed critique of the ethics of punishment…[he] constructs...a blues that challenges punishment—essentially based on what is frequently a faulty dichotomy of offense and retribution—by drawing attention to its imprecision, its ineffectiveness as a means of understanding human suffering.”

25th Hour stars Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Rosario Dawson. Film professor Mark Cunningham of Austin Community College will introduce the film and lead the Q & A.