Crooklyn is a 1994 American semi-autobiographical film produced and directed by Spike Lee, who wrote it with his siblings Joie and Cinqué.
Taking place in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, during the summer of 1973,[2] the film primarily centers on a young girl named Troy Carmichael (played by Zelda Harris), and her family.
Troy learns life lessons through her rowdy brothers Clinton, Wendell, Nate, and Joseph; her loving but strict mother Carolyn (Alfre Woodard), and her naive, struggling father Woody (Delroy Lindo).
In 1973, 9-year-old Troy Carmichael and her brothers Clinton, Wendell, Nate, and Joseph live in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn with their parents Woody, a struggling musician, and Carolyn, a schoolteacher.
The neighborhood is filled with colorful people, such as Tony Eyes, the Carmichaels' next-door neighbor, whose house emits the foul smell of dog feces; Tommy La-La, who continuously sings and plays his electric keyboard; Snuffy and Right Hand Man, glue sniffers; and war veteran Vic Powell, who rents from the Carmichaels and lives upstairs.
The family decides to go on a trip but, as they are leaving, a worker from Con Ed arrives to shut off the electricity due to an unpaid bill.
Troy stays for a longer period with her cousin, Viola, who was adopted by Uncle Clem and Aunt Song.
On the day of the funeral, Troy's Aunt Maxine coaxes her into trying on the new clothes she's brought, telling her it would make Carolyn proud.
Following her mother's wishes for her to protect her younger brother, Troy takes a baseball bat outside and hits Snuffy, telling him to go sniff glue on his own block.
[4] Joie Lee had major creative direction in the movie's production through casting and advising actors according to her accounts of her childhood.
[5] Lee co-wrote the script with two of his siblings, drawing from their own life experience for the story of the mother's illness and its effects on the family.
During the original run of the film, audience members were confused by these squeezed images, assuming there was some kind of technical error, so the studio put up signs in the theaters to explain the effect was intentional.
[3] The story of Crooklyn also focuses on themes of loss, family, nostalgia, memory, youth, and the black experience.
Film critics mention how Crooklyn depicts the themes of change and connection that can come with the death of someone close.
"[10] Variety's Todd McCarthy described the film as "both annoying and vibrant, casually plotted and deeply personal," adding that it "ends up being as compelling as it is messy".
[11] Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars, saying, "Lee's wonderful opening title sequence shows the children's street games that flourished in Brooklyn in the 1970s.
The site's consensus reads, "A personal project that warmly reflects on Spike Lee's childhood, Crooklyn is an episodic celebration of family and the indelible facets of one's hometown".