Brooklyn Boheme

Presenter and co-director Nelson George says that it's inaccurate to compare the literature- and music-oriented Harlem Renaissance to the explosion of creativity in George's own Fort Greene and Clinton Hill neighborhoods in Brooklyn during the 1980s; but the vibe is similar in this affectionate retrospective covering the past 30 years—before gentrification and corporate real-estate grabs took the sizzle out of the region. Tracing Fort Greene's bohemian heritage all the way back to residents Walt Whitman and Richard Wright, George and co-director Diane Paragas chronicle how a generation of African American and Puerto Rican performers took advantage of late-20th-century neighborhood blight and white flight in order to move into brownstones and storefronts, creating an environment in which everyone knew and helped each other. Spike Lee threw block parties and toted his scripts for She's Gotta Have It and Do the Right Thing around on his bicycle, corralling local talent; the Brooklyn Moon Café served crowds with spoken-word poetry and freestyle monologues rather than food or liquor; Chris Rock was motivated to become a comic force as a means to pay off his new house. The surging hip-hop marketplace helped too; as Lee says, these weren't starving artists but synergized ones determined to make money and build something lasting. Other interviewees include Rosie Perez, Branford Marsalis, and Lisa Jones Chapman. An interesting slice of black Americana, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)