Hook Line and Sinker; Variance Teams with Spike Lee for “Red Hook Summer”

A full four months after it premiered in Park City to mostly thumbs down type reviews, Deadline reports that Spike Lee will be joining forces with indie distributor Variance Films on the August 10th release with an expansion into 30 or so markets for Red Hook Summer (key word here is summer).

Gist: This is the story of an Atlanta boy who comes to Red Hook for the first time to spend the summer with his grandfather, a minister. They have never met. The grandfather is a devout minister who tries to get his grandson son to accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior. The boy refuses. He grew up in middle class Atlanta, far from the difficulties of New York life. He does not believe in God.

Worth Noting: At the film’s premiere screening, Lee told the audience that this isn’t a “motherfucking sequel to “Do the Right Thing“. Noted.

Do We Care?: Our Nicholas Bell reviewed the film at Sundance and figures a trim would benefit the film tremendously and notes that, “if you’ve got the patience, Lee has a rewarding payoff in store for you in the film’s final act that lessens the load of the barrage of nothing that’s come before it.”