School Daze (1988) ***

School Daze (1988), Spike Lee's second feature film, is an interesting time capsule and an early example of the director's trademarks, which were already polished by his next and best known film, Do The Right Thing (1989) [review]. Daze features some wonderful performances, a few snappily choreographed dance numbers, vibrant costumes, and in-your-face examples of colorism. It also contains some unfortunate homophobia, mistreatment of women, and the non sequitous nature of the story never quite gels into a coherent whole. There's plenty to appreciate here, but Spike would hone his characterization skills and "big idea" filmmaking with his opus the following year.

You can find my Spike Lee Feature Films Ranked list here.