Sitting in the Film House cinema’s cafe the director of “Make a Movie Like Spike” comes up to me and politely passes me a flyer for his movie and tells me I have to see it and that ‘he made the movie for us’. A bold statement I thought but going onto their website and twitter feed I started to see that the film was certainly worth Edinburgh Film Festival patron Robert Carlyle’s time and so would be certainly worth mine.
Make A Movie Like Spike is filmed in a documentary style, which draws you form the start and is a film about 2 friends enlisted in the Marine Corp. Before they embark on their mission to Afghanistan Luis (played by Jamil Smith) decides to film the next 36 hours before shipping out, his goal is to use the money he will get from services to make films like his idol Spike Lee movie filming style and shoots this movie with a hand-held video camera. He captures some poignant moments with his grandma, and a very heartfelt meeting with his mother, and a whole lot of time with his best friend Ronald (Malcolm Goodwin).
The script was tight but a few loose lines here and there got out which did no damage but could have been edited out. The relationships between Luis his grandmother and Ronald where believable to the point of me making a lot of notes until the penny dropped. The script had lines in it that had the audience laughing at what I can only guess where the right parts. The movie really allowed the audience to get drawn into their story with scenes between Luis and Ronald, Ronald and his girl friend, and Luis and his mother being near perfect and totally convincing. his really allowed the audience to be drawn into the story.
This was Jamil’s first film which he said was made for $40,000. The use of handheld camera’s worked well for the film and the scene that follows Ronald asking him what he learned from watching films for 6 hours was one of the highlights for me.
Disclaimer: This is not a documentary and after talking with some people afterwards they, like I, where under the impression that this was, even after noticing a few tell tale signs that it wasn’t. Yet this is one of the most powerful aspects of the film that from the start your drawn in to this as a truth, the lives of the two main characters, their relationship, and the limited options they have in order to do better in this life. In that sense the movie stands up as a powerful example of how someone with passion can produce a film that grabs your attention from the start and when it needs to let your mind go and see the film as a film it does just at the right time.
I was thinking for a time after I spoke with the director afterwards what he meant when he said that this movie was made ‘for us’, yet after watching the film and talking with him again afterwards i understand what he was saying. Though the theme and focus of the movie is on African-American, the struggle to get in and be part of the arts, is very restricted if you don’t have the means. The movie is ‘for all people of colour’ who might not have the funds, or in some cases, the backgrounds to get into school, it’s a film for all the disenfranchised.
With that said it’s a movie that all budding UK filmmakers should watch, no matter their colour, their background, it’s a film that screams an undeniable reality that many of them will find themselves in. With the reworking of the UK Film Council and art based funding being reduced incredibly there are going to be some harsh choices to be made.
Make a Movie Like Spike is high up there with Bombay Beach and Bleak Night and a film that truly captures the heart and soul of what the Edinburgh International Festival is all about, and is TNC’s Film of The Festival.
All public screenings os “Make a Movie Like Spike” are at Filmhouse 2 22nd @ 6pm & 23rd @ 3:45pm
