Streaks Blue and Red
Today was the warmest day in Prince George this year. So far.
The temperature outside hit 35 C. Even though the inside of my apartment was slightly cooler, it only took a few minutes on the exercise bike before the sweat began pouring. For some reason this brought back a memory of walking through the Academy Museum in Los Angeles earlier this year. Specifically, an exhibit on Spike Lee’s 1989 treatise on race relations, Do the Right Thing.
The exhibit had several engaging behind-the-scenes videos playing in which the filmmakers spoke about their craft and process. The one that stuck out to me was an interview with Ernest Dickerson, the film’s cinematographer. He shared the different methods that his team used to imbue the film’s scenes with heat. Bright, warm color schemes in the architecture; butane-lit fuses just below the camera as it rolled to create a hazy layer that sat between the lens and subject, mirroring humidity; actors sprayed with water before each scene; all in service of a narrative filled with beguiling tension.
It was generally warm while they shot the film, but they wanted to up the pathetic fallacy. The buildings needed to bleed; the people’s inner emotions needed a worthy reflection in unforgiving asphalt.
I could not find it online, but here is a similar clip in which Dickerson describes the illusions at play:
I wonder how long this kind of exaggeration remains necessary on a planet so frequently offering us filming opportunities in climates at the limit of human tolerability.
Now, just a comment on temperature, because I can point to many a memorable moment sandwiched between extremes. In that one, unusually rainy long weekend in LA, I was treated to its version of hot and cold. Dips down to 15 C contrasted with daytime highs in the mid-20s. A vast difference from the -35 C I had experienced in the Yukon just the week before. There is a similar comfort found in running into a warm hotel lobby escaping a blistering breeze in wintery weather as there is in hopping into an air-conditioned museum to hide from the unshielded sun.
But back to the movies. And from the red-hot examination of race to heat of a different kind – in the charts.
If you are a child of the 90s who grew up watching cable in the 00s, you may have seen 1999’s Blue Streak repeatedly on screen. It was the type of film that would find a home at prime time on various channels specializing in quick, 90-minute comedies that could easily be edited to fit commercial requirements. There are plenty of reasons certain films, no matter their quality, are syndicated by stations wanting eye-catching entertainment. Perhaps the rights to screen them are cheap or the station owns those rights already (think made-for-tv). Or they prefer to re-air accepted classics with emotional heft that are guaranteed to draw eyeballs and did not have a chance to shine at the box office (Shawshank Redemption, anyone?). Then there are the guilty pleasures, the movies everyone tunes into but do not really admit to liking.
I think Blue Streak falls firmly into the latter category. I bring it up here to finish on another piece of film trivia.
The movie is not a notable one. It serves its purpose as stated above – it draws viewers, makes them chuckle, and sits comfortably between ads. But if you are a fan of R&B, Hip Hop, or Rap, then you may find Blue Streak‘s original soundtrack enticing. It surprisingly went platinum.
Here is one of its standout hits, “Criminal Mind”, sung by Tyrese (yes, that Tyrese, now one of the many well-compensated stars of the Fast and Furious franchise) and Heavy D:
City lights, diamond sky
What a beautiful thing, to be alive
…
Have you ever felt your life standing still
You want so much more than the world has to give
A quick entry to end this, the warmest of Tuesdays, as the night breeze signals the gauge’s descent into more merciful registers.
Further trivia for those interested: