She's Gotta Have It: On-This-Day Thursday
Every Thursday, an older film released on this opening weekend years ago will be reviewed. They can be classics, or simply popular films that happened to be released to the world on the same date.
For August 8th, we are going to have a look at She’s Gotta Have It.
If anyone wanted to discredit Spike Lee’s capabilities as a filmmaker, I would implore them to see what he can do with very little means. His debut She’s Gotta Have It is a film made by a hungry filmmaker, buzzing with the notions of film school throughout his mind, and ready to show the world what he could do. Even before his token confidence was as strong as it would quickly become, you can sense that there is a director sure of his capabilities here. This also works with how reserved he can be, knowing not to bite off more than he could chew. That’s the key to making an indie instant classic. You have to at least try, but you also have to create the illusion that you’re working with more than you have, and part of that trick is created when you know your boundaries (trying to do something overly ambitious without the tools will be obvious).
Stripped down to limited settings and a small crew (Lee himself made a good portion of the film himself, and even his dad Bill Lee stepped in to help with the score [as he did with a number of Spike’s films]), She’s Gotta Have It relies solely on the story created: a love square between a woman (Nola) who is unsure of what exactly she wants in a man, and the three guys that want her back. What could have been a screwball romance hellbent on hijinks becomes liberation in the form of polygamy, in a time where that kind of lifestyle still wasn’t really respected. Shot in grainy black and white, She’s Gotta Have It is as candid as it gets, and the film feels like Lee tapping into dilemmas that many couples or lone souls were facing. Is it any wonder that his shoestring budgeted film drew over seven million dollars at the box office?
Nola sitting in isolation; her woes being felt as she stares straight at us.
His production was small, but his vision was huge. The dialogue Lee wrote was still full of wit, and he wasn’t scared by the small size of this feature. The tone isn’t deeply rooted in any strict convention, and Lee was clearly always fine with leaping around labels to make his own visions. We’ve certainly come a long way with Spike Lee, but part of that is knowing how far he was willing to go as soon as possible. She’s Gotta Have It is well made, plain and simple. It’s also daring just enough to stand out, and not get sucked into the monotony of debuts that fresh film students spit out. In 2020, She’s Gotta Have It is now a show on Netflix. Spike Lee is an Academy Award winner. He has numerous fantastic works under his belt. He was obviously meant for this industry from square one. In 1986, She’s Gotta Have It was Spike Lee’s humble beginning, which still wasn’t too humble for him to be allowed to be devoured by industry wolves. This was Lee’s testing of the waters, and even that he clearly nailed.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.