Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

School Daze Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 6, 2018

Spike Lee (Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing) is one of the few master filmmakers working today. His most recent picture, BlacKkKlansman, is a triumph and arguably his best film, but perhaps his most insightful and authentic is 1988's School Daze, Lee's second film following She's Gotta Have It. It's a film about race from a different perspective -- from within and amongst the black community -- and was greatly influenced by Lee’s own college experiences at Morehouse. School Daze “[is] my four years jam-packed into a homecoming weekend,” Lee says of the film. Its a dense and detailed picture, a multilayered look at “class and color schism within the black community” as Lee himself describes it. It's also often externally light but it's the film's internal gaze and thoughtful narrative and character threads within the larger, sometimes almost frivolous, framework that sets the movie apart and helped make it an instant classic. It remains a pivotal and purposeful film even today.

The setting is Mission College, the so-called "finest historically black college in the nation." The time is homecoming week. The school may appear to be unified on the outside, but internal strife is common. Through drama, song-and-dance, and against the backdrops of parades, football games, girls, boys, sororities, fraternities, and fraternization, the students clash with the administration, with activist Vaughn "Dap" Dunlap (Laurence Fishburne) spearheading a movement to force the school into divesting money that is going to apartheid South Africa. Dap is in conflict with Julian (Giancarlo Esposito), the lead man at the heavy-on-the-hazing Gamma Fraternity. Dab's girlfriend Rachel (Kyme) says he “has a thing against light-skinned blacks.” The film explores ideas of identity, appearance, and privilege through various prisms during a single weekend at Mission.

Lee crafts the film with an authentic feeling and populates it with deeply layered characters. Despite many superficial frivolities, including several song-and-dance numbers, the film finds purposeful structure and storytelling but does not always flow well. Structurally, it’s more of an acquired taste. Narratively, it’s a powerhouse. School Daze is not a traditional college-based entertainment vessel, the typical boneheaded comedy about pledges and life on campus. It’s instead a very layered and purposeful film that demands its audience explore around the periphery to understand what it’s doing and saying about race from the inside, as its hears from the clashing voices from within the African-American community depicted in the film. Lee works hard -- on both sides of the camera -- to say something important in the film while crafting an engagingly unique story. It doesn’t always work, but the narrative depth, character details, and the draw of the passion that flows from every scene is enough to overcome a few stumbling blocks along the way.

For School Daze, Lee and Casting Director Robi Reed assembled an incredible amount of talent, not the least of which includes Lee himself. In addition to writing and directing, he portrays a key character in the film, a fresh-faced and diminutively sized Gamma pledge who is also Dab’s cousin. Dab is portrayed by the now-legendary Laurence Fishburne, then a relatively fresh yet obviously very talented face coming off the shoot of Apocalypse Now (which he filmed while only 14 years of age). Fishburne dominates the film, as he tends to in all of his roles, with a command of character and screen. He is more than a presence. He is also a believable individual with real flesh-and-blood depth wrapped around the inner complexities that drive him and his character. The film boasts several other great performances, dramatic and choreographed alike, shaping a fresh, thought-provoking picture that has withstood the test of time and remains a seminal piece of filmmaking decades removed from its original release.

School Daze Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 30-year-old School Daze has never looked better for home consumption, but it's not without some areas viewers might find unattractive. Grain is prominent and dense and some viewers may dislike the more aggressively snowy looking scenes. Pops and speckles are not heavy but also not uncommon. No other signs of print damage (or encode artifacts) are readily obvious. The image often has an airy, diffuse look about it, with color blooming a frequent visual component. Black levels are often a bit raised and colors generally lacks solidified depth. Skin tones are often an exception, revealing a satisfying depth save for in the most visually challenging scenes. Healthy skin textures, pores, and the fine grain stubble atop shaved heads on pledges are textural highlights in close-ups, while details both inside buildings and throughout the outside areas around campus yield impressive textural efficiency and clarity. The image tightens up very nicely during an outdoor parade sequence in chapter eight. Sharp details, finely rendered grain, and bold colors create a highlight reel-worthy sequence. The film looks very good in total. It's not a traditionally beautiful, tack-sharp and resplendently colored image, but it is filmic and true to its source.

School Daze Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

School Daze features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track yields some very nice depth, detail, and spacing to the opening title music, followed by a healthy width and reverb when Dab speaks through a megaphone to rally the school. The track grows very lively in some of its musical numbers, notably a hair salon number in chapter four. It's energetic, widely spaced, gently immersive, and a lot of fun. Music is often accompanied by good supportive percussion depth, large-space width, and mild but critical surround engagement. There is some nice depth and echoing to be heard in a basement-like area in chapter five, when the Gamma recruits are "on trial." Atmospherics are modest but audible and well positioned to better draw the listener into the film's locations. Dialogue is clear and center-focused with only a few occurrences of spotty prioritization through the most aggressive music and support details.

School Daze Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

School Daze contains two commentaries, several vintage features, a new retrospective Q&A, and three music videos. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Audio Commentary: Director Spike Lee delivers an incredibly dull track that does offer good insight but is choppy in delivery.
• Audio Commentary: Cast members Tisha Campbell, Rusty Cundieff, Bill Nunn, Darryl M. Bell, and Kadeem Hardison offer a much more lively exploration of the film.
• Anniversary of School Daze Q&A with Cast & Crew (1080p, 33:126): Following a screening, Writer/Director/Actor Spike Lee, Casting Director Robi Reed, and Actors Tisha Campbell-Martin and Kadeem Hardison field questions about the film's themes and how and why they remain relevant today, the production's history, casting, the film's purpose and legacy, and more.
• Birth of a Nation (1080i, 24:07): A vintage piece in which cast and crew discuss the film's uniqueness, narratives and themes, Lee's influences and purposes for the film, the assembled cast and crew, shooting locations, life on the set and separating the cast off the set, depicting fraternity life, choreography, Laurence Fishburne's performance, and more.
• College Daze (1080i, 18:37): Lee recalls his college experiences at Morehouse while cast and crew discuss their own education experiences.
• Making a Mark (1080i, 21:01): Another piece that explores the film's story, themes, and presentation. It looks at key moments, cast and performances, Lee's work on both sides of the camera, and much more.
• Music Video (1080i, 4:36): "Be One" by Phyllis Hyman.
• Music Video (1080i, 4:31): "Da Butt" by EU.
• Music Video (1080i, 4:35): "Be Alone Tonight." Artists: The Rays, Tisha Campbell, Jasmine Guy, Paula Brown, and Angela Ali.

School Daze Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

School Daze has a lot to say about the perspective of race within the African-American community. It does so pointedly but not always directly. Lee assembles the film with flair and fun along its surface but interweaves a mesmerizing look at life in the community then, and the film remains relevant in that regard today. Lee is still a bit raw and rough around the edges with School Daze, a filmmaker not yet at his zenith, but it's easy to see the then-burgeoning master at work with the film as he juggles multiple duties on both sides of the camera with remarkable efficiency and plenty of depth as a writer, director, and performer. Sony's long-anticipated Blu-ray release of School Daze features solid 1080p video and a quality 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Just as enriching is the thorough supplemental selection which includes a multitude of wonderful extras. Highly recommended.