In stark contrast, Martin Scorsese's characters can seemingly never escape the bonds of family obligation. Lumet, "from his liberal Jewish perspective of the Lower East Side," generally places his characters in conflict not with other individuals or even family members but rather against monolithic civic or governmental organizations (which are, not coincidentally, generally oppressive and unalterably corrupt). And this can be contrasted with Spike Lee, whose "middle-class African American upbringing" is arguably reflected in his films' impatience with black characters who accept failure.
Blake wrote Street Smart as an "arbitrary but representative cross-section" of New York filmmakers. His idea was to examine how each filmmaker represented New York - and perhaps to identify the roots which led them to the cinematic expression in question. As he notes, in each director's work there is a measure of romanticism and perhaps also a touch of uncertainty about "the city." I enjoyed his exploration of each director's films from a slightly different perspective - both in terms of what the films "say" about New York, but also what the films might say about the filmmakers' own interaction with the broader "New York experience."
New York is, as Blake writes, far more than Manhattan, even if Manhattan is, by and large, the general mental impression of New York City. By exploring the ways in which these directors reflect and reshape ethnic and cultural identity through their films, he has added another mechanism for understanding their meaning. Written in an easy, conversational style, Street Smart is a thoughtful, meaningful exercise in film criticism.
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